SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue
by Yakosh
Summary: Alternative KiritoXSinon story, first arc, Aincrad. Kirito and Sinon get trapped in SAO and have to fight their way out (most original idea on the planet). Mostly Canon story with some changes and extra adventures. Please don't be scared away by the first chapter, it get's a LOT better starting with the second chapter. [Complete] Sequel: ALO: The Rangers
1. Chapter 1: The Bored Swordsman

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Partial credit to all the authors I have favorited (just to be safe because I am gonna take something or other from all their stories on accident because "inspiration").**

 **Note: I don't know how to properly use honorifics and such because I don't speak Japanese but I will try my best I watch WAY to much anime so I have some clue, also I won't be using honorifics on in-game names 'cause that makes no sense.**

 **Note: Never been to high school, never plan to go to high school (homeschoolin' for the win) so forgive me if (read: when) I mess up the party hopefully it will get better from here once it gets into SAO part.**

 **Bold outside authors notes is a system announcement + a few other things like perspective: System Announcement**

 _ **Bold, italic and single quotes is system messages displayed to a specific person such as duel requests and LA bonuses: 'Private System Announcement'**_

 _Italic in single quotes is thoughts:_ ' _Thoughts_ '

Normal in double quotes is speech or when something is written down: "Speech"

Normal is narration: Narration

Single quotes means air quotes "'Something in air quotes'"

 **I did NOT make the cover image.**

 **Please, just because you don't like the grammar and/or format of this chapter don't stop reading, it gets MUCH better starting from chapter 2.**

Chapter 1: The Black Bored Swordsman

* * *

Kazuto Kirigaya in this story is very good at Kendo and is also a programming wiz.

Kazuto birthday: October 7, 2007 (one year older then canon)

* * *

 **(3rd person, end of July 2022, 1 day before SAO beta test launch)**

Kazuto woke up at 7:30am to make Sugu and himself breakfast before heading off to the last day of school before the break (I believe there is no school in August in japan and then it starts again in September). Today was the day before the beta test of SAO, and tomorrow he would have his hands full with being an admin for that (he made most of combat system for SAO because he knew how to fight with a sword as well as some other parts), but right now he needed to get to school ' _what a hassle he thought, I already know everything there anyway so why bother going, oh well best get it over with and go do something else_ ' he thought as he went downstairs. After cooking breakfast and setting it on the table he checked his watch it read 7:45am, "Neechan, okaasan breakfast is ready" he called. Once they finished eating breakfast he left for school, which he went to for… ' _why do I go there again? Ahh whatever I'll figure that out later, today's is the last day for now anyway_ ' he thought, and with that he left to school.

* * *

He arrived about 15 minutes early as usual and headed for the first class, ' _some sort of boring math class_ ' he thought. He was one of the earlier people there as usual, he liked to leave early incase there was some thing that took time along the way so he wouldn't be late even if there was a problem. He waited for about 10 minutes for the rest of class to start show up. He was the student with consistent perfect scores and he passed all the final exams for the senior years with ease already and just came to school because… ' _why was it again, maybe I will come up with a good reason before September._ ' Then for 5 minutes there was the usual chatter of people talking with their friends, he didn't really have friends, he was popular because he had top grades, great at kendo, and girls liked his looks.

But he didn't really have friends, he didn't want to be friends with all the fangirls who asked him out on dates and such or any of his fans. The few people he had tried talking to were boring, he knew he was the smartest in terms of math and programming and such in the school (the latter good enough for Kayaba to notice him and give him an important role in making SAO, which still amazed him) but he expected there to be some interesting people at least, but no… Anyway back to that point after 5 minutes of annoying chatter the teacher showed up and everyone stopped talking.

Class went as normal with a few exams and was over. On his way home he heard a scream come from an alley that was mostly hidden from view and went in, he saw three girls bullying one which looked like she was crying, though it was hard to tell.

He walked in and asked "What is going on here" "We were just asking to borrow some money from our friend Asada-san here" said the one in the middle, ' _probably the leader_ ' he thought.

"Really because that isn't what it looks like, it looks like you three are trying to mug her" He said. "She deserves it, she is a MURDERER!" answered the leader. "I think you should leave her alone" he said picking up a fairly long, straight, stick which was conveniently on the floor there.

"Didn't you hear me? She's a MURDERER!" said the leader.

"I said leave her alone." Kazuto said in a voice much unlike his normal, gentle voice, but instead one which was like barbed steel.

"Yeah fat chance" said the leader, pulling out a taser, ' _probably from her irresponsible brother_ ' Shino Asada thought. She charged at him with her taser, he simply sidestepped and hit her wrist with his stick, not hard enough to break it but hard enough to hurt her and much her drop the taser then brought her to the ground with a kick.

"YOU BASTARD!" yelled both the other bullies and charged him, he simply dropped the stick and grabbed each of their taser wielding wrists in a bone crushing grip so that they drop their tasers before punching in the stomaches and knocking them to the ground. Then he walked over to the girl ' _looks like she is crying, what was her name? Asada, yeah that was it, but I would sound like a creep if I new her name so I will ask anyway_ ' he thought. The boy walked over to her "Are you okay" he asked, rubbing her back gently in circles, just as he asked he heard the bullies getting up, he turned to loom to see them running off. "Yeah, thanks" muttered the girl.

"What is your name?" he asked her.

"Asada, Shino Asada" she answered "but why did you stop them, you heard what she said, I'm a murderer"

"I don't care" he answered.

"Why not" she asked "As far as I am concerned, if it is that easy to find out you are a 'murderer', then you are either innocent and had a good reason for it, or you would be in jail. Because you are not in jail I know you had a good reason for whatever you did." All the while they were talking he was rubbing her back calmingly and she seemed to be regaining color to her face and stopped crying a bit ago ' _I wonder why he doesn't freak me out, normally it freaks me out when people touch me, especially boys, well he does look kinda girly, maybe that is part of it_ ' she thought giggled ever so slightly.

"Well thats good, you are giggling for whatever reason" he said.

"So what happened?" he asked, quickly adding "I mean right now, not whenever people started calling you a murderer."

"Well, they wanted my money and when I didn't give it to them they used the fact that any guns, even things like finger guns" she paled slightly when she said the word gun "freak me out and make me want to vomit, to try to take it, and then you showed up" she answered.

"So you have PTSD from… Not going to say it but you know what I mean?" He asked ' _How considerate_ ' she thought half sarcastically ' _we just met and he is trying to avoid triggering her PTSD in the slightest, well he is the nicest ANYONE has been to me after the incident_ '

"Yes." she finally answered deciding to be honest with this boy for some reason. "Oh by the way my name is Kazuto Kirigaya" said Kazuto.

"Do you want to escape from this reality" he asked,

Shino almost giggled again "You sound like some shady dealer man that gives the MC of an anime some drugs or something and then the mentor needs to rescue him" she said.

"No, I am serious. Have you heard of sword art online?" he asked.

"Yes, I have what about, it isn't like I can get into the beta test or something" she answered. "But if you could would you want to?" he asked.

"Yes, I guess" she answered.

"Perfect, I need to give this to someone before tomorrow but I didn't find anyone I wanted to give it to" he said giving her a coupon of some sort. It had an address and other then that, it read "the coupon for the 1001st beta tester, go to the address on the coupon to get your NerveGear and copy of the Sword Art Online beta test"

"Where did you get this?" she asked excitedly and he answered.

"I got it for being a major contributor to the creation of Sword Art Online, I made most of the combat and sword skill system, Kayaba gave me the ability to give one extra person the beta test, so do you want it?"

"Yeah, cool the beta test starts tomorrow at 1pm, lets meet up there, my username will be Kirito, it would be ideal if you could pick a name before we split up so I can look for you as well" he said.

"Sinon" she answered quickly"It just popped into my head and sounded nice" ' _Why am I so excited about this? I have never really like video games or anything, maybe it is because it is a chance to escape reality but not into normal video games but into a new world._ '

"Okay we need to head to the shop and get it before tomorrow" he said.

* * *

Once they arrived at the address it turned out it was a typical game store (those still exist in 2022 in the SAO universe apparently (this bit breaks the fourth wall (nested parentheses))) when they went inside the shop keeper looked like he was about to say some usual greeting but then noticed that it was Kazuto so instead said "Did you finally get a girlfriend or something, about time."

Shino did her best imitation of a cherry and said "He is not my boyfriend"

Then Kazuto whispered to Shino"Give him the coupon." and she whispered back "Okay" before walking forward and giving the shopkeeper the coupon. In return he gave her a box that said "Fragile" and "NerveGear"

"Well lets get you can go home, see you tomorrow, or virtually see you" he said, after we walked out of the store she asked very VERY shyly and quietly with a slight blush "Can you, uhh, walk me home?" "Sure, I wasn't planning on getting home till much later anyway because we left school early, so lead on" he said.

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon/Shino A)**

While I led him to my house, I found myself wondering why I had asked a boy I just met to walk me home, oh well, too late now, at least he seems nice enough. He was the closest person to a friend she had in 5 years, because of the incident. While we took a short cut someone tried to take the box I was carrying and Kirigaya-san beat him into the dirt, this was the route I normally take so I guess it was a good thing I asked him to walk me home and I said so "I guess it was a good idea to walk have you walk me home, because this is the route I normally take"

"Seems so, that box is pretty valuable after all, only a 1001 official copies plus the ones for development" he answered. Once we got to my apartment, I unlocked the door and went in.

"You should set it up and read the manual before tomorrow even though the servers only go up at 1pm" he said as he left. I wonder why I felt so much more depressed the moment he left… Oh well worry about that later, set up NerveGear now. Just as I was thinking that there was a knock on the door, I went over and made sure then chain was on and opened the door slightly, it was her overly goofy landlord who acted like 20 years younger then he was.

"Hi" I said, "How is it going" "Just wondering if that boy was that Kirigaya boy who won the nationals for kendo" asked the landlord.

"Yes he was" I answered rather simply "Oh, is he your boyfriend or something" he teased.

I once again imitated a cherry and said "He is not my boyfriend, I met him a few hours ago, he stopped some people from bullying me" "Oh" said the landlord and left. Once that was over I decided to go back to setting up for tomorrow. After I read the manual and set up the NerveGear, I decided to read a book until it was late enough to sleep.

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito/Kazuto K)**

Today was weird, first I go to school expecting class, and get a party which was annoying, then I meet a cute depressed girl (cute and depressed independently, not cute because she was depressed) who was getting bullied and give her a copy of the SAO Beta Test after stopping the bullies. Then she asked me to walk her home which is weird, then it turned out it was a good idea because someone tried to steal the NerveGear, and then I went home earlier then expected. Well what should I do during this time... I could add some unique stuff to SAO if I can still edit it right now... I put on my NerveGear (because typing on the virtual keyboard is cool and it means I can test stuff right away) and say "Link Start!" Lets finish adding bows to the game (I had been working on them for the past week or so), I guess there will need to be bow skills as well then. I guess there needs to be an Archery Skill, and you can get it by doing a quest on the, um, 3rd floor or so maybe? Yeah sounds good. After a little (the development system for this type of thing is really easy because of how high level a system it is) while I had added a bow template for Cardinal to make bows with certain effects.

Bows can also be equipped alongside other weapons meaning that anyone who finds the skill can use it, if they are good with it.

I added these skills and some others:

Rapid Fire; release a burst of 'arrows' (they look like energy blasts or something because of the sword skill glow effect), number of arrows is Archery Skill level divided by 100, rounding down, plus 3, so it starts with 3 arrows, then once you get Archery Skill 100 it is 4 arrows, 200 5 arrows, etc. Damage dealt is Bow Base Damage divided by 3 making the skill pretty bad at archery level of less then 100. Skill activates when draw the bow back approx. to your nose and and hold it there for 3 seconds.

Power Shot; This skill fires one powerful arrow that flies much farther and more accurately then normal and does Bow Base Damage multiplied by Archery Skill level divided by 100 plus 2 damage, so it starts at 2x, then 3x, etc. Skill activates when you draw the bow back to your ear, focus on on your enemy, and wait 2 seconds.

Bursting Rain; Fire 1 arrow (that deals Bow Base Damage) that splits into Archery Skill level divided by 10 arrows, arrow splits once it reaches the top of its arc, each does Bow Base Damage divided by 3, but if then each consecutive hit does the previous hit damage divided by 2, so if you hit the target with 1 arrow you get Bow Base Damage/3, 2 arrows is Bow Base Damage/3+Bow Base Damage/6, etc. capping out at 2/3 Bow Base Damage per target. This is not a single target skill, but a skill for clearing relatively weak hordes. Activates when the bow is help at at least 30 degrees above their current target and waits 3 seconds.

Ease Of Fire; This skill makes it seemingly much easier to draw back the bow and to keep it steady, effect scales linearly with Archery Skill level. It also decreases activation time for Power Shot if you can muster the focus fast enough. Activates when user fires 3 arrows accurately in rapid succession. For every arrow from there fired in rapid succession the effect increase, to a limit also based on your Archery Skill

Passive ability: Well Trained Archer ; Bow is steadier and if you concentrate on a target the system helps you aim, but if you use the system assist you suffer an up to 20% damage penalty (depending on how much you use it) to encourage accurate shooting. Both effects scale with Archery Skill level, the steadiness effect is smaller then the Ease of Fire one.

The quest for the Archery Skill is found on a random place in the 3rd floor, within the outer 3rd in terms of radius, the quest requires the person to shoot a bow accurately enough to hit a man sized target 8/10 shots from 30m without any system assist, you will find a hunter in the forest and he will agree to teach you with a bow if you can do the challenge, this will unlock the Archery Skill as well as give you a basic wooden bow, more bows will be found later on but will be unusable without doing this quest first, it is also the first bow.

Why I just monologued that in my head to no one I don't know but with that I logged out.

* * *

 **End chapter one, more coming up hopefully, I suck at writing so maybe not.**

 **PS. I wrote this is like 3-4 hours starting at 11PM and going to like 2-3AM so there will be lots of typos.**


	2. Chapter 2: Let the Games Begin!

**SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue**

 **I got a review? What?**

 **Also please tell me if 1st person or 3rd person is better, I guess it will be mostly 1st person for now.**

 **Also I am trying to write directly in the Doc Manager for reasons, so format will be somewhat different.**

 **Thank you for constructive reviews.**

 **I still suck at writing.**

 **Well anyway, unto the next chapter of [I suck at writing].**

Chapter 2: Let the Games Begin!

* * *

 **(1st person, Kazuto K, Augest 1st)**

I woke up late feeling groggy, when did I go to bed was it? Something like 1am. Geez, finishing those bows on time took a while. It was like 10:30am so still plenty of time before people beta test SAO. I doubt there will be many bugs though, so the beta is probably just to get people to want the release more. 10:30, so there two and a half hours before the beta to practice kendo.

"Sugu you up?" I asked knocking on her door.

"Yes, why?" she said sleepily.

"You don't sound like you are up, did I wake you up?" he asked.

"No I just woke up myself a few minutes ago." she answered.

"Okay well your turn to make breakfast so it is time to get up."

"Okay coming."

I walked down the stairs and through the back door to the dojo in the backyard and took one of the shinai there. After 15 minutes of training (I have no idea how kendo training works so I am just gonna skip over that) "Onii-san breakfast is ready!" Sugu called and I went in to eat.

After breakfast I asked Sugu if she wanted to spar with me and when she said yes we went to the dojo.

We got ready at either end with our shinai (I was using just one right now despite knowing how to use two as well), "Ready?" I asked.

To which she answered "Ready."

"3"

"2"

"1"

"GO!" she called.

We both ran forward, her in an overhead swing, while I ducked down and to the left, swinging from right to left. Hitting her on the right of her _do_ (the body armor part of the kendo protective gear), scoring a point and just barely avoiding her shinai. Then finishes running behind and hits the _men_ (the headgear of the kendo protective gear) with an overhead strike. scoring a second point and winning the match.

"Onii-san, you are way to fast, find someone else to spar with" Sugu said after her crushing defeat.

"Okay, okay" I said.

* * *

 **(1st person, Shino A, 12:59pm)**

It was August 1st, so today was the SAO beta test, and I got the 1001st copy as he claims, well in a minute it will be time.

' _10..._ _9..._ _8..._ _7..._ _6..._ _5... 4... 3... 2... 1_ ' "Link Start!" I said, _**'Please calibrate the NerveGear by patting yourself all over'**_ after I did that the world turned black then white and a bunch of colorful cylinders flew past. Then it confirmed all your senses.

 **Please Enter  
Username: —  
Gender: F/M**

I entered Sinon and female, on a virtual keyboard that appeared, then in front of me appeared a copy of me wearing some basic clothes that were green and with some sliders to adjust everything, including the color of the clothes, I changed the color of my eyes and hair to icy blue and changed the rubber bands on her hair into metal braces. Then I pressed the confirm button. I appeared in a what looked like a giant plaza, there was only one person here at first but then moments later a bunch of other people appeared (probably took longer then I did on making their characters), well okay now I need to find Kirigaya-san, his username would be... Kirito right. Okay how should I find him, well I look almost exactly like I do in real life so I guess I could hope he recognizes me. A few seconds after that thought the person who was there before me walked over to me and asked "Sinon?" he asked?

And I answered "Are you Kirito?"

"Yep, I thought it was you, all you did was change your hair and eye color to blue so it was pretty easy to recognize you. You can go to the center of plaza for a basic tutorial or we can just go and I can explain things to you."

"let's just go, it will be much easier that way." I said.

"Okay, well let's start with our basic weapons, you have to buy them in that shop *points at stall* over there, they are free but you can only have one."

After walking over to the stall he asked "What kind of weapon do you want, I use a katana but I know how to use all the weapons to a certain extent because I needed to test the sword skills for them"

Once I had looked over all the weapons I decided that I wanted a dagger "Can I have a dagger" I asked

"Here you are" said the shopkeeper **_'You received: [Basic Iron Dagger]; This is the most basic dagger, a dagger is light and relatively low damage weapon that allows for easily doing long combos of sword skills due to the short [Post Motion Delay]; This basic dagger has [Weight] 3, [Sharpness] 10, and [Durability] ∞ (basic weapons don't break), [Material Strength] 10 (when to weapons clash the one with this stat lower loses more durability)'_**

"Your dagger allows you to move quickly and strike quickly with very little time stuck in Post Motion Delay meaning that dagger user don't often get hit so they can use light armor and move very fast. My katana is lighter and then a long sword but longer then a short sword making it quite versatile, this means that while it moves slower then a good dagger user it can also strike somewhat harder and farther. Katanas are also slightly sharper on a given tier then most other weapons by default because real katanas are very sharp" he said "Well that's it for my lecture let's go fight some stuff"

"Okay" I answered,

Then we ran towards the fields outside the Safe Zone of the Town of Beginnings.

"Okay, let's get to killin' some boars, see that boar over there? *points to the nearest boar about 20 meters away* Attack it, once you get within 2-3 meters of it, hold your dagger out to the right, shift to the left a bit and crouch down. This is how you activate a basic dagger skill called [Dash Strike], which makes you dash forward at high speed and chop a target to your right (or left if you are left handed). It is one of the few early sword skills which you can't do with out using a sword skill because the [Dash] ability isn't available until much higher agility level, and running that fast is WAY farther. While most sword skills are just moving your sword in a way you could yourself if you knew how, so it doesn't make much sense to use them if you can avoid it because of [Post Motion Delay] which freezes you briefly after a sword skill" he lectured, again.

Once I got into range, I assumed the position he described and my dagger glowed icy blue and pulled forward, striking through the boars flank leaving a gash with red polygons floating away and red with a white mesh in the wound. It felt strange, half being pulled by the dagger, half my legs moving on their own. When I tried to move right after, I found I was frozen for a half a second, when I turned around the boar had frozen and looked like it was vibrating or something, before bursting in blue polygons with a sound like shattering glass, it was kinda beautiful. In front of me appeared a window saying;

 ** _'Col: 30 - Exp: 24'  
'Item Drops: [Boar Hide] 1x'_**

"Cool, you killed your first boar, it seems you are getting the hang of this pretty quickly, you seem to be good with a dagger so now you want to convert your [Basic Weapon Skill] which allows you to use swords skills with basic weapons into [Dagger Mastery] which will allow you to use sword skills with any dagger, this is basically deciding, that yes I have decided on my weapon type. You can't level up your [Basic Weapon Skill] so you want to commit as soon as possible." he said.

"Hey, Kirito, are there any long-range weapons in this game" I asked, because I don't really want to be up in the face of my enemy much.

"There are throwing weapons once you reach level 5 and get your first extra skill slot, then you can equip [Throwing Weapons] which allows you to throw weapons, of course if you just throw your weapon it will do damage but in the case of throwing, using sword skills is almost always a good idea, also once we reach the 3rd floor there is a quest that will give you the [Archery Skill] and a basic bow. But until you reach level 5, no there aren't any long range weapons. Throwing without the [Throwing Weapons] skill means you would have to throw your main weapon (because you can't equip any throwing picks or throwing daggers)which is a bad idea." Kirito told me.

"So I have to get to level 5 first, got it." I answered

"Something like that... let's go kill some more boars and level up."

"Okay, let's go" I said happily, this was surprisingly fun.

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito)**

It had been a few hours of leveling I had hit level 6 and Sinon had was almost level 5.

"Kirito, why don't you use any sword skills?" Sinon asked me.

"Because at this level non of the katana skills give an advantage over just making the exact something yourself, but they freeze you in [Post Motion Delay], so for me because I can do it without them, I do" I answered her.

As she killed another boar she was suddenly surrounded by golden light and the message **Level Up** appeared over her head.

"Congrats, now go into your inventory tap on skills, tap on the empty slot, go to combat and find [Throwing Weapons], then tap it and confirm that you want to select that. It is required for the [Archery Skill] so I already picked it though I won't really be using it. Skills can be reset but that is only available later on and costs quite a bit so be carful with your picking" I told her.

After she picked the skill and confirmed Sinon said "Okay, now let's go buy some throwing picks with the money I got from killing all these boars and sell all these items."

"Okay let's go" I said already starting to walk back to town. "Around the place you will find guards, these are almost impossible to beat and attack any [Orange Players] (criminals) that enter town, but they can also give you directions if you are looking for something. We need a general store first to sell our stuff, then a blacksmith."

Sinon walked up to a guard and asked "Where can I find a general store?"

The guard answered "First building on the left if you head on north main road from the central plaza, take care."

* * *

When we walked in we heard "This price is final, don't even try to bargain." And saw a player trying to bargain with the shopkeeper.

"There is a [Bargaining Skill] that let's you bargain with NPCs, otherwise it is practically impossible" I told Sinon.

"Oh, okay." she answered.

We walked up to the shopkeeper and said "We would like to sell our goods please"

"Okay, what you got?"

A menu asking to drag in the items we want to sell popped up.

 _ **'Drag all items you wish to sell (Not all items will be bought)'  
**_ _ **'115x [Boar Hide]'  
**_ _ **'Sell price: 1150 col'  
**_ _ **'Y/N'**_

After both of us pressed Yes, we both left with our pockets about 500 col heavier and 50 boar hides lighter.

"Okay the blacksmith happens to be across the street so let's go there and get you some cheap throwing picks, and us some slightly better weapons" I told her.

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon)**

Today was fun so far, I didn't games could be so fun. Having someone who already knows the game along to help out probably makes it more fun, as we are currently almost certainly the highest level players.

"After we buy some new weapons and throwing picks let's head out and go out further, the further from the Town of Beginnings we go the stronger things get, the floor boss's dungeon is somewhere in the outer half of the the circle, randomly chosen by Cardinal so even I don't know." Kirito said.

Once we entered the blacksmith shop I started looking around, the variety of weapons was greater then at the starter shop though there was the same number of types. Kirito bought 20x [Steel Throwing Pick] for 200 col and a [Steel Katana] for 500 col. I bought 50x [Steel Throwing Pick] for 500 col and [Steel Dagger] which had +5 [Sharpness] and +5 [Material Strength] on my old one as well as a [Durability] of 750 for 250 col.

When we left the shop Kirito had 4300 col and I had 3950 col.

"The nearest town is called Horunka and has a quest for a nice sword that I want to get, it is possible to redo it so I don't feel bad using the fact that I already know about it to get it, though I don't know the map very well because I worked mostly on combat and not building the world."

"Okay, sure let's go." I said.

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito)**

Once we arrived at Horunka we started searching for the quest which was called [Secret Medicine of the Forest] which rewards a katana called [Anneal Katana] (Yes this is 100% original, not. I modified the reward because I made Kirito use a katana).

We checked instead all NPC houses with a golden question mark over the door, this meant that there was a quest inside. The first few were just errand quests which gave a bit of money, but on the 4th try we found it. There was a woman with a golden question mark over her head, cooking something in a pot.

She spoke "Hello, would you like something to drink?"

I answered "Yes, please."

The women set some glasses of water down on the table. Then there were some coughs through coming from the next room and I asked "Is something wrong?"

And the women answered "Yes, actually, my daughter is stricken with a disease and the medicine from the market won't cure it, the only way to cure it is with using an ovule of the predatory planets in the forest, but the plants are dangerous and ones with ovules are rare so I have been unable to acquire one. If you can bring me one I will give you a katana passed down for generation in our family as a reward"

"Okay, I will bring you the ovule" I said and the golden question mark turned into a grey exclamation point, meaning this was a quest end point but you didn't have the required items. "There is another quest called [Plantfestation] which is gotten from the guard leader, the reward is a dagger and the quest requires that you kill a bunch of [Little Nepents] which are what we need to kill for this quest, so let's go accept that quest too.'

"Okay" she answered.

After heading to the guard HQ building and accepting the quest they head out to the forest.

"It is getting pretty late, Aincrad is synchronized with real time btw so we will notice if it gets too late though, I don't really have a set time to log out. Do you?" I asked

"I live alone so I can log out whenever, so let's do these quests."

And with that we head out, once we encountered our first [Little Nepent] we figured out a strategy where (because both of us have almost no armor, and Sinon is faster)Sinon gets its attention and attack it from behind. After a little over an hour we both leveled up twice and got the ovule.

"We got the flower, let's head back to town and get our weapons."

"Okay!" Sinon answered excitedly, clearly bored of this. We went to submit the [Secret Medicine of the Forest] quest first. Once we gave the women the floor she boiled it and gave to her daughter, then gave me the sword **_'You received: [Anneal Katana]; This katana has [Weight] 6 (+0), [Sharpness] 30 (+10), and [Durability] 2000, [Material Strength] 30 (+15)'_** it was a shiny black katana with a blue gem in the guard and silver along the cutting edge of the blade. Its handle was wrapped in dark leather.

"This sword is good, let's go get your dagger." I told Sinon as we started to walk out.

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon)**

When we arrived at the guard building it was starting to get late already so I said "Kirito, it is starting to get late so after this let's log out for the night."

"Okay, fine by me" He answered.

Once we finished the quest I got my dagger **_'You received: [Cold Steel Dagger]; Tempered with ice strikes with this dagger will stiffen and numb the area around wounds made by this dagger; This dagger has [Weight] 3, [Sharpness] 25 (+10), and [Durability] 1500, [Material Strength] 20 (+5)'_** it was slightly blueish tinted grey metal with a leather bound handle. This dagger is quite a bit better then my previous one, nice!

"Let's log out for today, I am gonna be back in here at around 12:00pm."

"Okay, but let's log out at an inn, you get a small [Well Rested] buff if you are logged out in a bed for 7 or more hours, it is a nice boost to all you stats so it is worth the cost of an inn, it increase based on the comfort of the bed and length slept up to a certain point so lets go find a nice inn. We can get one room with two beds because we won't really be sleeping there, just logging out."

"Okay." I answered, what? I don't talk much.

After we arrived at an inn we bought a room with two comfortable beds and logged out.

* * *

 **(1st person, Shino A)**

After I logged out I noticed just how late it was so I cooked myself some dinner and went to bed.

* * *

 **Author's notes time: No, I won't be making it so that each chapter is one day that starts with waking up and ends with going to bed, don't worry.**

 **Also how do you like the new style, with 1st person and less blocks of text.  
Please leave helpful and non-hateful reviews.**

 **Cya, me oouuttiiyy!**


	3. Chapter 3: Beta Test Part 1

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **This chapter will cover most of, if not all of the beta test, sorry but I can't keep writing at one story day per chapter, I would never get ANYWHERE, the whole story will be like 3 years or something, I also probably can't keep writing one 3k word chapter per real day. Also, I seems you people like the style that chapter 2 is written in much more then chapter 1, rather unsurprisingly.**

 **Also after looking at the map in the anime, it seems that the Aincrad isn't arranged** **radially like I assumed it was, but I don't care, it makes more sense this way.**

Chapter 3: Beta Testing Part 1

* * *

 **(1st person,** **Kirito, August 2nd, 1:03pm, Floor 1)**

It was just after one when he had agreed to meet with Sinon again, and he was waiting in their inn room for Sinon to show up. In about a minute Sinon appeared in a flash of blue. "Hi, Sinon, you're late" I teased.

"How do I know you didn't just get here?" she retorted.

"Just kidding, let's go and look for the boss dungeon, it has the highest level monsters on the floor the we could find so it will be the fastest leveling, also we might find the boss room. But first let's go buy some healing potions and crystals." I told her.

"Okay, but let's not spend much time shopping, I wanna get to fighting stuff already!" Sinon said.

* * *

 **(1:22pm)**

After buying the stuff we head out, we were currently in the forest which we were killing [Little Nepents] in yesterday, but it was much easier because it was earlier in the day so there were fewer monsters and they had much better weapons then before. "And another one bites the dust" I said after dispatching the 10th [Little Nepent] today. We were nearing the outer edge of the forest we could see a giant pillar rising into the sky. "That was quick. That's the boss dungeon, let's go and find the entrance, inside it is a labyrinth with 20 floors of its own, you fight through each floor looking the the stairs to the next one, except the 20th floor which is just the boss room."

* * *

 **(1:31pm)**

Once we got to the base of the sky-coloured tower we had already started running into tougher mobs, the [Ruin Kobold Troopers], which will here not much higher level then the other mobs, they were humanoid and could use sword skills, meaning they are more dangerous and give more exp and col, despite being the same technical level. We saw a large concentration of troopers. "That is probably the gate, judging by the number of troopers there." I informed Sinon, who snapped something about already having figured that out.

Once we got in aggro range of one of them, it called out and ALL of them attacked. "Well, there is one upside to this." I said. "And what is that?" Asked Sinon.

"We are going to get a lot of exp..." On that note a charged forward, knocking up one of their weapons before slashing it across the throat killing it in one hit.

"The throat is their weak point, with your dagger and throwing picks it should be easy enough to hit it, and it should do a ton of damage" I informed Sinon, to which she nodded and struck the one she was fighting with in the throat, finishing it off. This was to easy, before long they were all dead and we had both leveled up. Me being at level 7 and Sinon being at level 6, probably the highest and second highest level players respectively. I could check using that I am an admin but I felt bad enough using my knowledge of game already.

* * *

 **(7:16pm)**

By now we had already reached the final labyrinth floor of the boss dungeon and were looking for the way up to the boss floor. We had both logged off to eat in a safe zone at one point but other then that we were basically going non-stop. The mobs up here were higher level then at the bottom so I had leveled up to level 9 already, Sinon being at 8. We had developed a method for killing them easily, I would knock up their shield/sword, Sinon would hit it in the throat with a throwing pick, which she was ridiculously accurate with by the way, and then I would use the opening to finish them off. By now all of Sinon's throwing picks had broken so I had given her mine which she had broken half of, a throwing pick lasted multiple throws if you either pulled it out or killed the monster quickly and got it back that way, but the also had a durability so they would break at some point even if you kill the monsters fast.

We rounded a corner and saw the now familiar sight of stairs leading up to the next floor of the dungeon. "Nice, now just to kill the boss, once you get to the top floor of a boss dungeon there is a teleporter that you can teleport to, but it only allows people who have been there, like the teleporters in towns, not like the ones in the main cities on each floor, which once anyone has activated anyone can teleport too. We should go activate it for ourselves and then log out for the day."

"Okay, but why don't we take a peek at the boss first?" Sinon asked.

"Okay sure, I didn't really help make the floor bosses so I don't know what this looks like, neither do I know much more then anybody else in the beta test about all the floor above floor 5" I answered, and with that we pushed open the GIANT double doors. What greeted us was a dark throne room, once we walked in about 10 meters everything lit up and a 5 meter tall red kobold with a short sword (compared to him) and buckler jumped off the throne and landed in front of us. While most peoples reaction would be to be scared, ours was... "Eww, that thing is UGLY!" Both of us said at the same time after about half a second.

"Well, let's see what we can do to it before we have to retreat, after all while I would prefer not to die, it would be fun to try and fight that ugly thing" I said.

And with that we ran forward, using one of the few early katana sword skills that actually help, in this case it just gave my blow A LOT more raw power, enough in fact to counter the kobolds sword, and knock it up. After which Sinon hit in the eye, and using that opening I repeatedly struck at its stomach with a sword skill called [Power Blow], unlike most sword skills, it has a very, very short [Post Motion Delay] though it has a fairly long cooldown, and it simply increases the power of the blows, without taking control, this skill lasts a few seconds. After that I jumped back having done quite a bit off damage, and repeated.

Using this process we managed to bring its hp down into the red of its last bar over the course of about an hour and a half, where it threw away its sword and buckler and drew a talwar, a curved saber like sword, super-sized to a six appropriate to this giant ugly thing. Once it did that I only had a chance to attack at all after Sinon created an opening, because it had much faster strikes keeping me on defense.

* * *

 **(9:04pm)**

With a final blow to the stomach, I finally dispatched the boss. A giant banner hang in the sky with silver text.

 **Congratulations**

The fight had taken just under 2 hours, but had been pretty fun, though the red of the last bar took WAY longer to get rid of then the same amount before then, which made it fun and not repetitive. On top of the normal stuff I got the last attack bonus. _**'You received [Last Attack Bonus]: Coat of Midnight; This black coat greatly increases your hiding skill, and gives**_ ** _you the ability to use on without having it in one of you slots; Skill Bonuses: [Hiding Skill]: +100, [Strength] +10, [Agility] +10; Stats: [Defense]: 10, [Durability]: 2000'_**

"This coat is pretty powerful, and it looks badass" I said, equipping the coat.

"I swear you care about fashion more then I do. Girls are supposed to care about fashion MORE then boys" Sinon stated.

"Whatever, it looks cool. Well let's go activate the portal on the second floor and log out." I said as we went into the pillar of light that appeared, when we walked through we were in the center of a city, smaller then the [Town of Beginnings], rather unsurprisingly. Then, **Urbus Teleport Gate Active** , the system announced.

"Well let's log out for now."

"Bye."

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, August 4th, 5:30pm, Floor 3)**

Earlier today we had killed the 2nd floor boss, along with a few more players, it was a giant bull that charged around and stunned people, by the end of the fight the only people left standing were the two of us, so we got the [Last Attack Bonus], specifically me. It was called [Rangers Vest], it was a green vest that gave nice defense and agility bonuses, as well as giving a large bonus in a skill that was labeled ?, Kirito said that meant it was an [Extra Skill] or [Unique Skill] that you didn't have, in this case probably archery because of its name. On the second floor we had gotten the [Martial Arts Skill], which involved punching a rock. Kirito did it easily knowing how to activate the basic [Martial Arts] skill that silently became available when you accept the quest.

Anyway, what were we doing on the 3rd floor you ask? We were walking... More specifically looking for the quest for the [Archery Skill].

"So where was it again?" I asked, we had been walking for about an hour by now.

"I made it random..." Kirito answered.

"Whhyyyy?" I whined.

"Quit whining, there see that hunter, thats how you start the quest" Kirito said, at which at immediately stopped whining and regained my composure.

Kirito walked up to the hunter and said "That is an interesting weapon you have there *gestures to the bow*, would you teach us how to use such a weapon."

The hunter replied "Walk with me, I have gotten enough game for today so I will head home" Then we had to follow the hunter to his home. Then he said "See those targets there, from her use this bow and shoot them, if you can hit them most of the 8 of 10 times, I will teach you how to use a bow, and give you some one of my spares"

I got to go first, and when I picked up the bow and tried, we found out I was a natural at shooting with a bow, because I quickly hit 10 of 10 shots into the target. _**'Acquired Extra Skill: Archery Skill'**_ was the message that popped up at which I jumped up happily then the hunter walked over and a second message popped up _**'Quest Reward: [Wooden Bow]: This is the most basic bow; [Power]: 10 (The higher this is, the harder it is to draw the bow and the stronger it is), [Draw Ease]: 0 (This reduces the difficulty of drawing the bow), [Durability]: 1000'**_

Kirito took a few tries, but eventually he managed to get the 8/10 required after which he said "Wow, you are good at this whole shooting thing, have you practiced before?"

"Nope, I guess I am just a natural." I teased.

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, August 30, 2:11pm, Floor 18)**

They were sitting on a cliff, watching a nice view. "The beta test is almost over." Said Kirito, somewhat sadly.

"Think about it positively, we got to spend a month having fun in this world." I said cheerfully, I was really thankful that he gave me the chance to be here, this was probably the best month of my life, at least after the incident.

After we duo killed the first floor boss other people started playing more seriously, meaning that we ended up killing most of the floor bosses up to now in full raid groups. Kirito was wearing a cloak called [Cloak of the Starless Night] (which gave a boost to any bladed weapons skill, plus had stronger everything compared to its predecessor), which his [Cloak of Midnight] transformed into after they killed the tenth boss, in other words, he was STILL wearing all black, his sword was called [Dark Ember Blade], it was a katana that had a chance to light any enemy he cut with cursed flames, which dealt damage and reduced healing, as well as having probably the highest stats of any sword in the game, it was the [Last Attack Bonus] from the 17th floor boss, it was annoyingly ALSO black, he was wearing his bow called [Black Strike] it was probably one of the best bows, though mine was the best, its only special ability was that its arrows traveled along their path extra fast, it was like their time was accelerated, though the damage and trajectory was as if it was much slower, his arrows were simple [Black Steel Arrows] which were fairly high tier but had no special effects. He was currently level 33. With skills [Katana, 235/1000 + 50], [Hiding, 102/1000 + 100], [Senses, 204] (Senses is a combination of Tracking, Night Vision, and Searching, acquired once you reach 200 in all them, allowing you to save 2 skill slots, it also includes, [Eye Sight] and [Hearing] bonuses, but those were stats not skills), [Archery, 101/1000], and finally [Martial Arts, 151/1000]. His last to spots were open because of the [Senses] skill clearing them up.

I was wearing the [Last Attack Bonus] for the 15th floor boss, which was conveniently a full set of gear called [Archer's Gear] it gave a large bonus to my [Archery] skill and [Agility] with decent [Defense] and [Hiding], it was green with icy blue trimmings. My dagger was a dagger called [Ice Fang] it had come from a quest on 16th floor, which was covered in ice, it had a similar but much greater effect to the dagger she had for the 1st floor boss fight. Her bow was called [The Blizzard], it got a bonus with skills that include firing a bunch of arrows and it created chunks of ice on hits, with a chance for a large chunk of ice, hence the name [The Blizzard] because it barrages you with frost. It also had the highest stats on any bow that she knew of and was the [Last Attack Bonus] for the giant Yeti that was the 16th floor boss. She was level 31 with skills [Dagger, 134/1000], [Hiding, 109/1000 + 130], [Senses, 251], [Archery, 203/1000], and finally [Martial Arts, 149/1000]. Last 2 spots cleared by [Senses] as well.

We were almost certainly the strongest players, as shown by a tournament that had been held yesterday. The finals had been Kirito and I, where I lost by quite a bit, because the arena was small, at a large arena we would have been much more evenly matched, though I would still have probably lost.

"Hey Sinon, wanna go scout the next floor bosses maze? I mean looking at the view with you is nice and all, but it is kinda boring and seems to much like we are on a date." Kirito said, to which I turned bright red, jumped up, and way to fast said "Y-yeah l-let's go"

* * *

 **(3:09pm)**

In about an hour we had managed to get through last 3 layers of the 18th boss dungeon. Finding the boss room, also I forgot to mention, on the 18th floor it is all a giant network of caves, as well as some gigantic caverns. This means that it is quite likely that the boss will be either something like a bat or a bug of some kind, hopefully the former. With that thought, I opened the door.

"It's a very tall cave, so maybe a bat or something?" I asked after we walked into the boss room. Kirito had gotten his bow ready, and I followed suite. After a few moments we heard a screech and say a bat.

The Kirito said "My bows ability will be good for keeping it off us, hit it in the wing with a full power [Charge Shot]." [Charge Shot], a skill I got recently that let you charge a more and more powerful shot, with a limit of course. But what made it really good right now it it also increased the percentage of chance abilities to trigger, we found that a full charged [Charge Shot] with my bow had a 100% chance to do a major, though possibly not maximum, freeze, if I hit the wing with that it should be grounded, making the fight much easier. Meanwhile Kirito was hitting it with [Rapid Fire] to keep it off us so I could aim.

"3... 2... 1... NOW!" I shot the arrow, which flew straight and slammed into the bats wing, immediately ice started growing from the arrow, causing the bat to tumble and fall to the ground. "Nice shot Sinon, as usual" Kirito congratulated me.

We got to see that the bosses name was "Cotun Ulacard" which was an utter mess, and his hp was a one bar down, something was off. It had 4 bars and it lost one of them in about 5 minutes. Kirito had the same thought "Something is off, the name and the amount of damage he took, both are weird, let's be carful." He said drawing his katana, and starting to hack away at the boss, it seemed helpless and its hp dropped to 1 bar in about 5 more minutes of hacking and slashing, then suddenly he began to glow and became an [Immortal Object] when the glowing vanished there stood a man with fangs and his name read "Count Dracula" Kirito, seeing the name jumped back instantly and said "Boy am I glad my sword burns things, because otherwise this would take eternity, he is a vampire so he should be weak to fire."

Then the boss drew a saber and ran forward at Kirito blocked and yelled "Freeze his sword arm please!" as he struck back at Dracula, the blow only grazed the boss but did about 4% of the bosses remaining hp because of the fire. Then I shot a [Rapid Fire] at the bosses right side, several of the arrows struck causing the bosses movement to slow down a lot. Kirito was now able to spar with the boss landing the occasional hit without getting hit himself. The bosses hp was now down to about 10% and suddenly Dracula dropped his sword and half transformed into a bat, flying at Kirito at high speed, trying to hit him with the claws he now had. Kirito just barley was able to react in time redirecting Dracula with his sword and bringing his hp down to about 3% at which Dracula's speed went ridiculous and Kirito couldn't get in the last strike.

"Kirito, I am going to use [Bursting Rain] to slow him down!" I shouted to him, already getting in position to use [Bursting Rain], then I fired, Kirito chopped the few arrows that went his way apart before they could hit him, while Dracula got hit in one wing by one and fell to the ground.

"Now Kirito, finish him!" I yelled as Kirito ran to the boss and chopped its head off. A giant banner appeared saying

 **Congratulations**

Kirito dropped to the ground obviously, and understandably, tired, I mean he was just sparring with a floor boss for about half an hour. His hp was down to about 25%.

"Good job Kirito, what did you get for the [Last Attack Bonus]?" I asked him.

He checked his menu and said "I got this ... "

* * *

 **Sorry, can't figure out to put there so you get to know in the next chapter, leave a review with what you think the LAB should be and I will pick the one I like most and use that, or maybe I will figure something out and then I will just edit this and put it there. Also it can't be anything to unique, any suggestions like that I may use later, for instance when it is the main arc and not the beta test part.**

 **Also what do you think of how I did the boss fight? To much detail? Not enough detail? Please help me learn to write.**

 **Anyway, there will be one more chapter of the beta test after this, or maybe two. Anyway please review the chapter and tell me what you think, please no hate, I know I am a terrible writer but I still don't want it told to me.**

 **3 days, 3 3k word chapters!**

 **Also longest chapter yet.**

 **Cya later, me oouuttiiyy!**


	4. Chapter 4: Beta Test Part 2

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Hi! I was thinking that I am going to have Sugu in SAO, while that may seem very OOC for her, I don't think so.**

 **A) She is trying to get closer to her brother, and she thinks that it is because of games he is drifting away, so she could reasonably think that if she played games he would spend more time with her.**

 **B) In this world Kazuto helped make SAO so that might encourage her to play it.**

 **C) She did eventually get into video games in the canon.**

 **Also credit to** **Roguasashin for the idea for the boss drop...** **ish. "s** **ince the boss was a bat I would say that the LAB should be something related to sound"**

 **Also I edited the previous chapter, I decided that the beta would be one month not two, but please tell me if somewhere it still says it is two months so I can fix it.**

Chapter 4: Beta Test Part 2

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, August 30, 3:45pm)**

 **Congratulations**

Kirito dropped to the ground obviously, and understandably, tired, I mean he was just sparring with a floor boss for about half an hour. His hp was down to about 25%.

"Good job Kirito, what did you get for the [Last Attack Bonus]?" I asked him.

He checked his menu and said "I got something called [Sonic Pendent], it's basically a sonar, if you close your eyes and concentrate it builds a world around you. Also it increases your hearing while you are wearing it"

"That is cool, it would have been REALLY useful in all the dark caverns on this floor though, could have been the drop from the last floor." I said annoyedly.

"Well that drop from the last floor was a counter to this boss, I mean a flaming sword vs. a vampire." He answered. "So which of us gets it?"

"I think you do because I tend to keep far enough away that my target would probably be out of its range, and I fully admit you did most of the work for this fight." I said after a couple seconds. "Well let's go loot at the next floor?" I finished.

"Okay." was his short reply.

Once we went into the light.

* * *

 **(3rd person, somewhere)**

 **18th Floor has been cleared  
Participants:  
Kirito, Sinon**

"Those two killed another floor boss, seriously that is 5 of 18 that they have duo killed." said a person in a tavern.

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, Floor 19)**

"Auchoo" both of us sneezed at the same time. The 19th floor was a bunch of rolling sunny hills, which was a nice change from the rocky underground of the 18th floor. "Let's activate the warp gate" Kirito said as we had seen many times, when you clear a boss you walk into the pillar of light, which teleports you to the gate of the next floor, but it doesn't activate it so you need to activate it anyway.

"Sure but we want an escape route because we will be swarmed with people otherwise" I said, I didn't really like crowds.

"We can just run, we have a higher [Agility] stat then most other people, and they will be in a crowd so that will slow them down." he replied.

"Fiiiine" I said dragging it out.

We activated the warp gate and then bolted away to avoid the people aski- "HOW DID YOU KILL THE FLOOR BOSS" yelled a person in the crowd interrupting and finishing my thoughts at the same time. But by the time people got orientated we were already gone.

* * *

"Tomorrow is the last day of the beta test." I said sadly, it meant I had to go back to school, which was horrible.

"Let's try to get to the 20th floor, so we can be a fifth done, and not almost a fifth done." said Kirito. The monsters on this floor were mostly giant flightless birds called [Plainrunners] and weird dog-cat carnivores that hunt in packs called [Colfs], according to the NPCs the [Plainrunners] could be tamed and ridden, but we would do that in the full version because today was the second to last day and we wanted to kill the floor boss of this floor before tomorrow night.

And with that we left the town and headed off, the boss dungeons were pretty easy to find, and it was a matter of finding the way to the top that was hard. In only a few minutes we found the boss dungeon, it was full of [Colfs] and traps, as we got to the top the [Colfs] started having pack leaders called [Colf Minor Alpha], which were stronger and boosted the rest of their pack.

But these enemies didn't really have any special properties and were pretty easy to kill so we made quick progress, I would distract the leader, Kirito would finish it off, then we clean up the weakened [Colfs].

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, 8:03pm)**

After about 4 hours we had finally reached the top of the tower.

"There will probably be an event of some kind tomorrow for the end of the beta test so let's see if we can kill this boss now?" Kirito said.

"Okay, sure, but if it looks like we are gonna die I want to leave, I mean going 1/5 of the way is less impressive then not dying a single time." I replied, so far we hadn't died, and we planned to keep it that way.

After I said that Kirito walked up the the door, and pushed it open. On the other side was a boss called [The Great Alpha Colf].

"So that's why they were called minor alphas and alphas." I said.

"Looks like it, it will probably summon a bunch of extra [Colfs] so I will kill them when they show up and focus on the boss the rest of the time, while you should focus on the boss except for to rain ice on the [Colfs] if there are too many of them, got it?" Kirito asked.

"Sounds like a plan to me!" I called in reply before firing a full charge [Charge Shot] at the floor boss, as I did Kirito rushed forward and struck at the ice, doing a lot of damage because he shattered the ice and because if something is very cold and then you make it very hot very fast then it breaks. Once the bosses first bar dropped by 50% the first wave of [Colfs] spawned, while they were the same level as the ones outside the boss room they were buffed by the presence of alpha to be almost as strong as the minor alphas. There were 10 of them so they shouldn't be to much of a problem.

"I'll keep them off you, just keep focusing on the boss" yelled Kirito.

Then Kirito charged forward and his sword lit up, but not like a sword skill, but with black fire, and he swung it, causing the fire to fly of in a wave that flew about 5 meters where it didn't hit one of the [Colfs], it seemed not to do much damage but it lit them all on fire. No fair, that ability is way to cool, and OP. Then he finished them off one by one as they rolled around trying to put the fire out. This process went on until it reached its final bar, where instead of summoning minions it started glowing slightly red, meaning that it had gone berserk, this is an ability that increase most stats at the cost of defense.

"This is baaaaad" said Kirito, who being right next to it was about to get hit by a giant paw to the face. When I saw that I shot an arrow in its eye, which did about 10% of its bar, I guess it does lose a lot of defense to berserk. Kirito used the opening to attack it and brought its hp down to about 50% before it flung him back, his hp dropped down to about 40% in one hit, so this thing might one hit kill me then.

"I'll cover you while you heal up." I yelled to him, activating [Rapid Fire] to slow the boss down and keep it off us. Once all the arrows hit I saw its hp was down to about 40%. Kirito used the opening created by my icy arrows to attack the boss repeatedly, damn this bow was OP. After Kirito latest onslaught the bosses hp was down to 25% and Kirito's was also around there. Then the boss turned... even redder?

"Did it just go berserk again?" I asked him.

"I think so, it will probably one hit kill me with a good hit, but it will also probably die in one powerful hit from your bow, so I will try to keep him off you and relatively still while you get ready to shoot him." Kirito answered, and rushed in without waiting for my reply. I drew back for a [Charge Shot], and got ready, waiting for the boss to be still for a moment. And that moment came when the boss got ready to finish Kirito, if I missed he would die and we would lose this fight. I calmed my breath and lowered my heart rate, aimed, and shot, the arrow flew straight and slammed into the bosses eye, the bosses hp drained down to 0 and it shattered into blue polygons and a blinding light.

 **Congratulations**

I got the last attack bonus which was _**'You got the [Last Attack Bonus]: [Colf Pendant]; While wearing this you can summon a pet [Colf], its stats will depend**_ ** _on your level, but with a maximum at level 50, to summon squeeze the pendant, to dispel do it again, the [Colf] is good for defense or offense, as enemies will prefer it over near players; [Agility] +50'_**

"So what did you get?" asked Kirito.

"I got an item perfect for me" I said "it is a pendant that can summon a [Colf] that scales with my level to guard me while I shoot." I demonstrated by squeezing the pendant, next to me a appeared a [Colf] that was slightly larger then the normal ones but not nearly as big as the boss. It was panting happily and a menu appeared in front of me _**'Name your pet: -'**_

I entered the name Colfy, because I am imaginative (stupid author with no imagination (fourth wall? what fourth wall (nested parenthesis (yay)))).

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, August 31st 1:00pm)**

I logged on at 1pm sharp, today was the final day of the beta test, so there would be an event, hopefully one where my sonar thingy will be handy 'cause I want to try it. A minute later Sinon also logged on.

"Lets go to the [Town of Beginnings], today is the last day of the beta test, so we should go to the place we were on the first day, also there will be an event there in half an hour for the end of the beta test, if I recall correctly it is some kind of carnival." I told Sinon. At the word carnival Sinon almost literally bounced.

We went and teleported to the [Town of Beginnings]. We walked to one of the boar fields "Let's meet here on the day of the release." I said to which Sinon nodded sadly. "Don't be so down, it will only be two months before the full release." I said to her when I noticed it.

We passed the time until 1:30 then suddenly the bell rang and all one thousand beta testers were teleported to the central plaza, which looked like to could hold 10 times more people. Then

 **Welcome to the Beta Test End Event  
This event is held as a thanks to all of you for beta testing Sword Art Online  
It will consist of a bunch of mini games and such as well as one boss at 3pm  
Thank you for Beta Testing and we hope to see you in the full release.  
All of the [Town of Beginnings] will be a carnival area during today.  
In you inventory you will find a crystal, if you do not wish to participate in this event use the crystal to teleport to where you were before this ****announcement.**

"Let's go find some fun games to play?" I asked.

"Sure" answered Sinon.

After a few minutes of searching we found a game simply called [Dodge] the objective was to stand in the middle of an arena, then balls will fly from random sides and you have to dodge them, if you get hit 3 times you lose and the more you move the more score you lose, you start with a certain score and it goes up over the 5 minutes you play for, perfect score would be if you somehow didn't get hit a single time while standing perfectly still the full 5 minutes.

"This looks like a game were the 18th floor bosses [Last Attack Bonus] would be really useful, and I wanted to try it out."

I walked up and entered, it was free because this was a special event. So all I had to do was enter.

 **Are you ready?**

 **3...**

 **2...**

 **1...**

 **GO!**

I closed my eyes and activated the pendant, a ball was coming for my head from behind and to the right so I moved my head just enough so it would miss. I had to step a few times but I didn't move very much so by the end of the 5 minutes I got a pretty high score.

"This pendant is nice, I like it, too bad I never got to battle test it though. I am defiantly going to get it in the full release and play around with it more." I said.

Sinon just seemed bored "Okay, lets go find something else to do."

After some walking we found something called the [Battle Arena], it was a game that was played by a player or party where waves of monsters came at you and you need to fend them off, you score depends on how much damage you take and how far you get.

"This looks fun, let's see anyone is playing?" I said.

Sinon replied "Sure."

We walked up to the NPC and asked "Can we give this a try?"

"Sure, but there is a party in the arena right now so you will have to wait for a little." was the answer we got.

"Let's go watch the people fighting right now?" Sinon asked and I agreed.

It was party of 6, we recognized them, they were one of the top parties, us being on top. They were currently on wave 10, subwave 2. The wave number corresponded to the floor they were from, so wave 1 subwave 1 would be the [Frenzy Boars] just outside town, wave 1 subwave 2 would be [Dire Wolves] or something, then [Little Nepents], etc. This party would probably last till wave 15 or so, seeing how they were doing right now. After about 30 minutes, they were on wave 16, subwave 3, and getting swarmed by yetis and pounded into the ground, they probably wouldn't clear this wave. And in about a minute more they were dead. Next was our turn. We jumped down into the arena, and after about 30 minutes we were at wave 16, subwave 3, but in our case between our agility, their slow attacks, and Kirito's flame sword, we were dealing with them pretty easily. And quite soon we reached wave 19, and first we had to kill a bunch of [Plainrunners] normally [Plainrunners] weren't aggressive unless attacked, but these started angry. After we killed them we found that the [Colfs] simply killed themselves when Sinon attacked one, because of her amulet. Then

 **You have cleared the [Battle Arena]  
** **the [Battle Arena] only goes up to cleared floors.**

"That was fun, but kinda easy, there weren't even any mini-bosses, still, for some people it was hard 'cause we are the only people to clear it thus far." I said. It was currently around 2pm so we had an hour to kill before the event boss. As per Sinon's insistence we even went on a roller coaster at some point, apparently Sinon had never been on one before. We also played a PvP game, where parties fought against each other, most of the rounds were rather easy but one was between us and the next best party, the fight lasted a while but the didn't have an archer so Sinon could just run and shoot, her bows ability slowing them down so they couldn't catch her.

Meanwhile I was sparing with their strongest warrior, he was quite skilled and parried most of my blows, but it was a matter time before he died, he was getting tired first, and I was getting some hits in without getting hit myself. Parry, duck, strike, retreat, repeat. At one point he let his guard down a bit and I ducked under his arm and got a clean slash on his back, which with my sword death a lot of damage because it burned him, this also made his movements sloppier, speeding up his death even further, the whole fight took about half an hour, meanwhile their agility players had been killed, due to Sinon's ridiculous accuracy and speed, and their tank was, well, tanks don't do well on their own, it only took him a moment to die with both Sinon and I attacking him. The whole fight plus the roller coaster had taken long enough that it was 2:55pm by now and the boss would be in 5 minutes.

"Okay let's go to the center plaza, that is where the boss will be." I told Sinon and we used our teleport crystals to get their because, even if some stuff did transfer from the beta, crystals certainly wouldn't.

At 3pm sharp a 10m boss appeared, it had 10 bars, which wasn't all that surprising because it needed to be strong, I mean there would at least 500 people fighting it instead of the 48 that normal bosses where designed for. It was simply called [The Paladin]

It had giant armor and a hammer that had a head which was a cylinder with radius about a foot and length a meter, probably with plenty of AOE attacks.

"This thing is going to be tough, that hammer probably was stunning and AOE attacks, aim for the eyes because the rest is very heavily armored. Also the eyes are glowing so maybe that means something." I told Sinon before running toward the boss. My plan? Let it swing its hammer then run up the hammer and arm and stab it in the face. Was it crazy? Yes. Was it fun? Yes. Was I going to do it? Yes!

The boss swung its hammer at the ground as predicted, I was the nearest player to it because I took off at a run right away. As the hammer hit the ground a visible shockwave rolled along the ground outwards from the hammer in a circle, I jumped over it and onto the hammer, it tried to knock me off with its other hand but missed because Sinon chose that moment to shoot it in the eye. In a couple more seconds I was on its head stabbing it in the eye with my sword (Shadow of the Colossus style), surprisingly (I mean very surprisingly) that took down a bar of hp, and the eyes stopped glowing. Now a point on the [Paladin]'s head was glowing so I stabbed there, and sure enough, it took another massive hit of damage, the glowing there stopped and the back now had a glow point, so what do I do?

I crazily jump off the giant think and stab my sword into its back, then I was left hanging from its back where it couldn't reach me by my sword, which was impaled into it.

"Everyone! Aim for the glowing spots, it takes massive damage there!" At which Sinon started shooting it in the stomach where its current glowing spot was causing it to shake violently causing my sword to dislodge and me jump down to the ground, the boss was currently at 60% hp. The current weak spot was on the back of its hammer hand, which meant that when it swung its hammer down, all the heavy armored players held it down while the lighter ones attacked the weak point, it only took 3 repeats before the weak point had moved and the boss was half dead. "This is proving to be a lot easier then expected!" I yelled as I jumped and stabbed it in the center of the chest, where it had a weak point right now. This continued for a little while the remaining 4 weak points had been on the knees, and on each of the shoulders. Once the bosses HP dropped to it shattered into golden polygons and the light was golden white instead of blueish white.

 **Congratulations!**

 **This concludes the Beta Test  
the servers will remain open until midnight, so feel free to play till then.  
Thank you for Beta Testing and we hope to see you in the release!**

"I don't feel like fighting so I am gonna log out for now." I told Sinon.

To which she said "That was the craziest plan ever, seriously, run up its arm and stab it in the face?"

"Well it worked didn't it" I answered "Anyway I am gonna log out for now, cya at school tomorrow!"

I swiped through my menu and tapped log out.

* * *

 **(1st person, Shino A)**

Right after Kirito logged out, I followed shortly after. After a month of fun, there would be 2 months of school before the release of Sword Art Online.

This would be a depressing 2 months, well at least Kazuto-san and I go to the same school, so we will meet up.

* * *

 **More notes, yay.**

 **That final boss fight, I decided to make it that way because I started writing it, and I imagined its eyes glowing and then when I wrote about him running up the arm and stabbing a gigantic thing in its glowing weak spot I immediately thought of Shadow of the Colossus so I decided to vaguely base the boss fight on that.**

 **Please tell me if you hate the idea of Sugu being in SAO, but I haven't seen it anywhere. I saw once a story where Sugu logs in later to help, but it is a tiny one, I haven't seen a proper story with Sugu in SAO yet.**

 **Also the usual stuff about no hate and helpful reviews please, tell me what you thought of the two boss fights in this chapter. Also longest chapter yet, and it has been 4 days and I have written 4 chapters! Bye!**

 **Cya, me oouuttiiyy!**


	5. Chapter 5: School and Trapped?

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Is it reasonable for Shino to address Kazuto as "Kazuto-kun" or "Kazuto-san"? Honorifics make no sense. I am going to use Kazuto-kun because she has a crush on him, also in narration I am not going to use honorifics?**

 **And now, another piece of this terrible story written by a terrible writer.**

 **Sorry if the school part it terrible, I don't go to school, and never have except kindergarten so yeah.**

Chapter 5: School and Trapped?

* * *

 **(1st person, Shino A, September 1st, 8:21am)**

Kazuto and I were sitting in our classroom in our seats, which happened to be the same and right next to each other respectively. We had both arrived before anyone else and were waiting for the teacher and other students to show up. This was math class which was, well, fine I guess.

"School is soooooo boring! AND useless!" whined Kazuto.

"Why do you even come here then?" I asked him.

"Not sure, you I guess." he teased, or I think he teased, still I felt heat in my cheeks, thank god we are the only people here.

"By the way, what grades do you get?" He asked.

"Mostly As, some Bs." I answered truthfully, while I didn't get all perfect grades, have a photographic memory and whatever the equivalent for sound is of photographic memory, I wasn't the stupid kid in class either.

"Okay, I can help you out with whatever you have problems with if you want." He offered.

"I'll think about it." it was a nice offer, but also I didn't really want to take up his time.

it was 8:25 and the people started showing, taking their places, some sending glares at her. Right this wasn't SAO anymore, people know who she is, and what she did...

At 8:30 the teacher came in and started talking about radicals and such, at which point, I noticed Kazuto decided to take a nap.

After about 30 minutes later the teacher finally noticed that Kazuto was napping and called loudly "Kirigaya-san, please solve the problem on the board!"

Kazuto woke up without showing the slightest sign of being startled and walked up and solved the problem, which was multiplication of radicals easily, much to the teachers annoyance. Then he went and sat down at his desk. And after about 5 minutes went back to napping.

The class went on and nothing interesting happened, even I knew most of this stuff already. After an hour the bell rang, Kazuto woke up, and we headed to our next class.

* * *

 **(Kazuto K, 3:30pm)**

School was boring, as usual, during lunch break he got flocked with people asking him serious things, Endou, which was apparently the name of the leader of the bullies bullying Shino when he met her, tried to bully Shino again but this time was smart enough to run away when he told her too.

After school I had kendo, which was somewhat more fun, I went to this schools kendo club so I didn't have far to go.

Once I arrived I was greeted the usual excited way, because I had won multiple tournaments for them.

"Hi, anyone want to spar?" I said. As usual no one really wanted to spar with me.

"I guess not..."

"I will!" said a kid who he hadn't seen before.

Then people around the kid started whispering things like "That's not a good idea." and "There's a reason no one wants to spar with him." to him.

We got on the sparring mat, I after putting on our kendo gear and getting our shinai, which I got 2 of. At this point the boy probably recognized me from a tournament because he started looking A LOT more nervous.

"3... 2... 1... GO!" yelled the person who was the referee.

I saw him get into position for an overhead strike going slightly left so I prepare to bring my shorter sword up to the right perpendicular to use blow, so we lock blades and I can hit him with my second sword. After our blades clash I hit him on the left of his _do_ scoring a point, then drop my second sword down to right him on the right of his _do_ scoring a second point and ending the match.

"And that's why nobody wants to spar with him." said one of the people watching.

"Then why does he ask if anyone wants to spar with him?" asked the new kid.

"It is a joke, he has said that exact thing every single time he came here, but after the first few times nobody would spar with him." explained the same person.

After two hours of fighting imaginary opponents and teaching people I went home.

* * *

 **(5:55pm)**

"Sugu, I'm home!" I yelled once I entered the house, I already new that haha (your own mom in Japanese is haha right?) wasn't home yet.

"Onii-san, I already knew that." Sugu called back.

"Whose turn was it to cook dinner?" I asked.

"Yours." she answered.

"Right..." I mumbled and got to cooking dinner.

I made some miso soup, rise, and fish (what apparently this is a Japanese dinner... luckies... I love miso soup, I like rice, and I love fish) and called Sugu to eat.

After that I went to my room to start looking for some gig to do at least until my contributions are necessary for SAO again, not really because I need money, but because I need something to do.

I didn't get anything today, I decided to go to bed early because I didn't have much to do right now.

* * *

 **(October 31, 6:00pm)**

"Onii-san, would it be possible for you to get me a NerveGear and SAO? Because you helped make it, and it involves fighting with a sword I want to try it out." said Sugu, surprising me because this was the first time Sugu had shown any interest in video games, but whatever, if she wants it I don't see a reason why she shouldn't have it.

"Okay, I'll go out and get it, I have nothing to do right now really anyway." I said before heading outside. I got on my bike and rode to the nearest store that sold NerveGears and rather unsurprisingly there was an very long line, I just went around to the back and showed the owner the coupon I had that let me basically said that if they aren't all sold out I can buy one, and bought one along with a copy of SAO before getting back on my bike and heading home.

"Sugu, I'm back." At which she came running down the stairs. "Here you go" I said as I handed her the box "the servers turn on at 1pm tomorrow."

"Okay!" was the only answer I got before she ran off, probably to set it up.

* * *

 **(1st person, Kazuto K, November 1st, 12:59pm)**

Well, in less then a minute I get to return to that world.

* * *

 **(1st person, Suguha K, November 1st, 12:59pm)**

In less then a minute I get to find out why my onii-san loves this world, and maybe I can get closer to him too...

* * *

 **(1st person, Shino A, November 1st, 12:59pm)**

In a minute I can leave this horrible reality and go to a better one!

* * *

 **(3rd person, Global, November 1st, 1:00pm)**

"""Link Start!""" said Suguha, Kazuto, and Shino at the same time.

* * *

 **(1st person, Suguha K, November 1st, 1:00pm)**

 ** _'Please enter a username: Leafa'_**

Then I had to make my character, which I decided to make basically a slightly older version of me wearing green with blond hair. I pressed the confirm button and the world around me turned blueish-white and once the light faded I was standing in a giant plaza, onii-san said he would wait on the north road and that his character would be a slightly older version of himself with a black katana. I looked around with my eyes and noticed what looked like a health bar with my name, and a clock with a compass under it, looks like I had spawned on the north side of the plaza so now I just need to find the road. I saw a black haired boy with a black katana, so I ran up to him.

"Hi onii-san" I said.

"It is just Kirito in here, no honorifics or whatever, everyone goes by their username and thats it" He answered. I nodded.

* * *

 **(1st person, Kazuto K, November 1st, 1:01pm)**

I had gotten to keep one item from the beta test so I chose to go with my sword, though it got nerfed down to the point where it was about the power of a [Steel Katana] and its special abilities were locked, it would scale with my level and eventually its abilities would be unlocked as well, I am guessing Sinon chose her bow which means that she will also get the [Archery] skill, which means she won't be able to equip any melee weapons at the start, at least she probably got to keep her arrows as well.

"Hi onii-san" yelled a blond girl who I assumed was Sugu.

"It is just Kirito in here, no honorifics or whatever, everyone goes by their username and thats it" I answered and she nodded.

"By the way, what is your username?" I asked her.

"Leafa."

"Okay, lets get you a sword. I chose the north side because this is where the [Basic Weapons Vendor] is, so let's get you a weapon." I said.

"Okay, what kinds are there?" asked Leafa.

"You will see, the stand is right there." I said as we walked up to the [Basic Weapons Vendor]. Rather unsurprisingly to me Leafa also chose a katana.

"Let's head to the boar field so you can do some training and we can meet up with my partner during the beta test and friend at school?" I said before starting to head off along the north road to the north boar field.

While we were running to the field some guy named Klein asked him to explain the game after guessing that he has a beta tester.

Once we arrived I showed Klein and Leafa the basics and explained that because she is pretty good with a sword in real life she should mostly avoid sword skills with the katana early on. While Klein who was wannabe samurai should stick to the sword skill system for now because he has no real skill.

"Hey Kirito! Who is they?" Sinon called, she had shown up at some point while I was explaining.

"Sinon meet my sister, Leafa, Leafa meet meet my friend Sinon. By the way what item did you choose to carry over from the beta test? Your bow?" I asked.

"Yep, and I got some basic arrows with it, but it has been nerfed down to the point where it is weaker then the basic bow, because it is from the 3rd floor, it also gave me a stash of basic arrows that can be replenished at NPC blacksmiths, you chose your sword right?" she finished with a question.

"Yes, though it got nerfed to the point where it is slightly better then a [Steel Katana] until I level up some more." I said.

"Hi Sinon!" said Leafa.

"Hi Leafa." said Sinon a little quietly and shyly.

"Come on Sinon, I don't bite." Leafa said cheerful as usual.

"Let's go kill some boars and level up, we should get to level 5 so Sinon can get her dagger skill." I said.

"Does she already know how to fight?" asked Sinon gesturing to Leafa.

"She was a quarter-finalist in the previous kendo nationals, so yes." I said.

"Okay, well let's kill some boars then."

"H-hey are you guys forgetting about me?" asked Klein.

"""Yes.""" said all three of them at once, at which Klein drooped down.

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, 5:21pm)**

We had been killing boars for a few hours like Kirito and I had on the first day of the beta test, Kirito and I hit level 6, though Kirito almost got 7, Leafa, who was apparently Kirito's sister and who was also really good with a sword had hit level 5, and then there was the desperate-for-a-girl wannabe-samurai Klein, who had hit level 4 and had done worse then Leafa, despite this being Leafa's first time playing a video game, anyway we were sitting on a cliff watching a view when Klein got up and said "I am hungry so I am gonna log out and go eat okay? I ordered a teriyaki mayo pizza and ginger ale for 5:30pm."

"Sure, to bad the food in here only satisfies your hunger virtually. Well add me as a friend and ask me if you need help." said Kirito

"I'll pay you back sometime, virtually of course!" said Klein.

Klein opened his menu to log out and after a few seconds said "Uhh, total newb question, how do I log out?"

"It is at the bottom of your menu" I said, in the 'duh' voice.

"No the button is there but it is blank and doesn't do anything." he answered "Probably just a bug, this is the first day out of beta, there are bound to be some bugs, right?"

"Did you call the GM?" asked Kirito.

"Yeah, but he isn't responding, the server people are probably freaking out right now!"

"And you will be too soon." said Kirito pointing at the time, which read 5:25pm

"Noooo! my teriyaki mayo pizza and ginger ale!" said Klein.

"Anyway, this is weird, a bug like this would cause huge problems for Argus, also Kayaba-san wouldn't make that kind of mistake, for example there wasn't a single bug during the beta test right? So why would there be a huge bug like this in the release, related to something that worked fine in the beta." said Kirito

"Hmm, I guess you're right." I said. This was starting to be a bit scary. Though I guess I wouldn't mind being trapped in here to much as long as my body gets taken to a hospital...

"Is there any other way to log out?" asked Klein.

"No, the only way to log out is through the menu, or if someone pulls the NerveGear off their head. Our mom will probably notice in about half an hour, and then I know where Sinon is. What about you Klein?" Kirito said.

"I live alone." said Klein.

Then at 5:30pm sharp the bell in the [Town of Beginnings] started ringing.

""Mass teleport?"" said both Kirito and I at the same time.

After a blinding flash of blue light we were back in the plaza.

"How did you guys know?" asked Leafa who had been quite for most of the time.

"At the end of the beta there was an event, and at that time everyone was teleported the exact same way." I explained.

Suddenly a red hexagon with the text "Warning" on it, then next to it appeared ones that read "System Announcement" and then warning until the whole sky was covered in a red dome.

"Look up!" yelled a random person in the crowd, pointing at blood oozing out of the cracks, pooling in the air. Forming into a giant GM robe without anyone inside.

 **Hello players, I welcome to my world.**

"Kayaba-san what are playing?" muttered Kirito next to me.

My name is Akihiko Kayaba.  
 **And as of this moment, I am in control of this world.**

People started shouting things like "That's some entrance" and "Seriously"

 **I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your main menus - the log out button.  
** **Let me assure you, this is not a defect in the game.  
** **I repeat, this is not a defect.  
** **This is how "Sword Art Online" was designed to be.**

"He's kidding, right?" asked Klein.

"I don't think so. He never jokes." said Kirito.

 **You cannot log yourselves out of SAO, and no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the "NerveGear" from your head.  
** **If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the NerveGear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain and ending your life.**

"Are you listening to this crap? He's got to be nuts, right? Right, Kirito?" said Klein.

"He's not. The transmitter's signals in the headgear work just like microwaves. If the safety's disabled, it could fry your brain. And there is a battery so you can't cut the power." said Kirito at this point Leafa started looking nervous and nudging closer to her brother.

 **Despite my warning, the families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the NerveGear, an unfortunate decision, to say the least.**  
 **As a result, the game now has two hundred thirteen less players than when it began.**  
 **They've been deleted from both Aincrad and the real world.**

"213..." said Kirito.

 **As you can see, international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths.**  
 **At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a NerveGear being removed is minimal at best.**  
 **I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game.**  
 **It's important to remember the following:**  
 **There is no longer any way to revive someone within the game.**  
 **If your HP drops to zero, your avatar will be deleted from the system... forever.**  
 **And the NerveGear will simultaneously destroy your brain.**  
 **There is only one way for a player to escape now - you must clear the game.**  
 **Right now, you're gathered on Floor One, the lowest level of Aincrad.**  
 **If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you may advance to the next floor.**  
 **Defeat the boss on Floor 100, and you will clear the game.**

"Clear the game... we made it a fifth the way in a month which means that it's going to take a long time to get out of here, because even if you ignore the initial panic, people will be much more cautious, even Sinon and I didn't die a single time during the beta test, the same can't be said for probably anybody else." Kirito said.

 **Last but not least, I've placed a little present in the item storage of every player.**  
 **Please have a look.**

I looked in my inventory and saw an item called [Hand Mirror].

""""A mirror?"""" all 4 of us said at the same time.

Suddenly we were all surrounded by a light similar to the teleport light and when it cleared. Kirito was replaced with Kazuto, Leafa was replaced by a girl who looked a lot like Kazuto and Klein was replaced by what is probably the real world version of Klein. That meant I would be me...

The only one confused was Klein because he didn't know the real versions of any of us.

"Kirito? Leafa? Sinon?" he asked.

"Looks like everyone looks like their real selves now." Kirito said.

""Let's get out of here"" said Kirito and I while Kirito grabbed Leafa and I dragged Klein along.

Once we were out of the plaza and in an alley Kirito said "I am heading to Horunka, it is the next village along, Sinon I am guessing you are coming too?"

"Yes." I said.

"What about you Klein? Leafa?" I asked.

"I'm coming I guess." said Leafa, still panicked a bit.

"I logged in here with some friends, we waited all night to buy this game, I can't leave them. With the stuff you taught me I'll get by, and I used to be a guild leader in a previous game I played, so I'll be fine. Can't expect a group of people I just met to risk their lives for a bunch of strangers. By the way, Kirito aren't you that kid who won the kendo nationals?" said Klein.

"Yes, and you better not die, got it" said Kirito.

"Got it!" said Klein.

"Okay, Leafa, Sinon, let's go to Horunka, there are some quests we need to do." said Kirito.

"Okay, but first we need to get me some sort of dagger and Leafa a better katana." I said.

"Also Kirito, you should get a mask or something. Klein recognized you and others might too." I said

"Maybe later." he answered.

* * *

 **(1st person, Leafa, 5:54pm)**

So I decide I want to try out video games, and the first video game I try is a death trap. Nice introduction. Where am I right now? Currently I am running on a path between my brother and his friend to the next village so we can get better stuff and survive, at least I am with the 'Strongest Players'.

"It seems most things are stronger then they were in the beta, so I doubt we will easily be able to duo floor bosses this time." said Kirito, who was my brother, but I guess here he is Kirito and onii-san to me.

"Yeah, also we nearly died all 5 times so no pulling anymore stunts like that I guess." said Sinon, who seemed almost happy to be here, her life outside must suck if she prefers this to the real world.

Anyway the village was supposed to be about 10 minutes away at our speed, and Kirito and Sinon were having no trouble with the mobs. Also Sinon is REALLY good with a bow. Suddenly Kirito and Sinon stopped abruptly and I follow suite though I didn't know why they stopped.

There was a pack of wolves on the path, but they had run straight through a few before.

"Crap, theres an Alpha." said Kirito, and when I looked at the wolves again I noticed one was bigger its name was [Dire Wolf Alpha] while the rest were just [Dire Wolves].

"Sinon can you give me an opening on the alpha?" asked Kirito.

"Sure." said Sinon before drawing her bow and shooting the alpha in the eye. It didn't die but Kirito easily finished it with a few blows, then an orange hue I hadn't noticed on the wolves before vanished and Kirito called me over to help get the rest.

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, 6:11pm)**

By the time we reached Horunka, Kirito had already leveled to 8, I was 7 and Leafa was also 7.

"Let's find the [Secret Medicine of the Forest] quest. And then the [Plantfestation]." said Kirito.

"[Plantfestation]?" said Leafa holding in a laugh.

"The quest requires the killing of a bunch of plant monster. The [Secret Medicine of the Forest] quest requires a rare drop from the same monsters, so it makes sense to do them both." explained Kirito, before walking into a house with a golden question mark over the door.

"What does the question mark mean?" asked Leafa.

"Quest inside." I said simply.

We walked in and Kirito accepted the quest, then we went and got the [Plantfestation] quest as well.

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, 7:23pm)**

We were in the forest, killing [Little Nepents], our current strategy was that I would attack the monster from the front and then run around back, then Sinon would shoot it in its weak point that made expose another larger but usually hidden weak point, and then Sugu, I mean Leafa, would finish it off. We had been at it for about an hour and had killed about half the [Little Nepents] required for the [Plantfestation] quest and hadn't gotten an ovule yet, so we would probably be her for at least an hour more.

* * *

 **(8:31pm)**

We had just killed enough of them for the [Plantfestation] quest, and saw one with ovule, so we were about to be done, we were killing it and while killing it we noticed that there was one with a fruit nearby.

"Leafa, whatever you do, don't attack that fruit, it will summon ALL the [Little Nepents] in the area." Sinon said.

After we got the ovule (we only needed one because at my level my katana had scaled to the point where it was slightly better then the [Anneal Katana]) and were starting to head back, a guy ran out, slashed the fruit of the fruit bearing [Little Nepent] and activated his hiding skill, bastard is trying to MPK us.

""Uh oh."" said Sinon and I at the same time ""RUN!"" I grabbed Leafa's arm and started running back to town, I saw that the nepents were swarming mostly on the place the boy had activated his hiding skill, he probably wouldn't survive this.

Because we had cleared out the ones in the direction of the village we managed to make it to the village while only killing a few nepents.

* * *

 **Yay, cliffhanger-ish, this is a bonus chapter, or number 4 was a bonus chapter or something, anyway extra chapter. Don't worry though there will be another chapter soon, I just want to keep the chapters similar length and this breaks the 4k word limit while I wanted to keep them in 3k word area.**

 **Please follow, favorite, and review my story. Please give me your opinion of my writing, if you don't like it say so, but please no hate.**

 **By the way this story is based quite a bit (for now) on the story called** SAO: Dragon Knight **by** SNEAKYD **as well as others, but that one the most.**

 **Anyway, me oouuttiiyy!**


	6. Chapter 6: Boss?

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Yay, I am not planning on skipping anything so I basically wrote an extra chapter!**

 **In this chapter stuff happens, I know, big surprise, amazing imagination, all that stuff, totally.**

Chapter 6: Boss?

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, November 1st, 8:46pm)**

We arrived at the town and got our rewards for the quests, I got a dagger and Leafa got a katana, which she was really good with, she was no Kirito, but her style looked more complete, Kirito's always looked like something was missing. Oh right, he is the national kendo champion, and if I remember correctly that means he uses Nito Ryu, which has two swords, while in here he has one, so thats probably it.

"Lets get an inn for the night, sleep is important." said Kirito.

"As far as I know there are no rooms with 3 beds on this floor so we either get a two bed room and a one bed room, three one bed rooms, or one two bed room and two of us share a bed. I don't think any of us want to share beds so we should have a two bed room and a one bed room because that will be cheaper then three one bed rooms." I said, if anyone was sharing beds it was Leafa and I because we were both girls or Kirito and Leafa because they were siblings.

"Fine by me, but you two share the two bed room then." said Kirito.

"I don't mind." said Leafa.

Having agreed we went to the best inn, because we had plenty of money, and as Kirito said sleep is important, also the better the bed the better the stats bonus from [Well Rested], which should still be here even without logging out.

We all ended up going to bed at around 9pm, when going to bed Leafa looked troubled, so I asked her "You looked troubled, what's bothering you?"

"I am worried about my parents, imagine coming home from work and finding out that both your children are trapped in a death trap and you can't do anything to help them." she answered "What about your parents?"

"My father died when I was two, my mother was very traumatized, though right now, I doubt my mother would know that I am trapped, not speaking of care." I answered, obviously not telling her the reason why my mother hated/feared/avoided me.

"Why would your own mother not care about you?" asked Leafa, with concern in her voice.

"I would rather not talk about it. Let's go to bed, okay?" I answered.

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, November 2, 7:30am)**

Its 7:30am? Looks like I still wake up at school time. I checked my message box and found a message from Argo, also known as The Rat, an infamous/famous info broker. Her message was asking for any info from the beta test, things that I have found in the past day or tips, I am guessing Sinon also got the same message. I compiled to separate lists of confirmed and unconfirmed things and told her to make sure that anything that is 'Beta Test Information' and unconfirmed may be invalid as there have been some changes that I noticed, mostly minor stuff as well as power boosts to everything, basically.

A few minutes later I got a reply that said "Thank you, also do you have the info on the first boss, it didn't respawn in the beta and you and Sinon were the only ones who fought it."

I messaged her back saying "A boss fight is very important info and it is better if they scout and get correct info then the info from the beta test, also we are going to confirm it later today if possible, when we do I will get back to you."

"Okay, false boss info could be more dangerous then no boss info." was her reply, I closed the message box.

I put on my clothes and walked outside and over to Leafa and Sinon's room and knocked on the door quietly. Unsurprisingly I got no response so I decided to go outside and get some 'training' done, normally it would be called 'grinding', but because this is now our reality 'training' is probably better, anyway.

I went into the forest to start killing [Little Nepents] which at my level were pretty easy. Dodge, strike, parry, repeat. I decided to come back at 10am by which point I had hit level 9, one more level and I can equip a another skill.

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, 10:00am)**

*Knock Knock* "You guys up yet?" I heard Kirito say quietly, I equipped my gear, made sure the Leafa was under her blanket and opened the door.

"I am, Leafa is still sleeping." I said.

"Late sleeper as always whenever there isn't school." he answered. "I was doing some early morning training, I just got to level 9 before going back. Also check your message box, Argo probably sent you a message."

"Argo? As in Argo the Rat?" I asked checking my message box and seeing a message from her. "If you want just tell her you don't know anything I don't. I already sent her all the stuff basically." he said.

"Okay, I'll do that." I said sending Argo the message.

"I think we should go to the boss dungeon and start scouting it out. It will probably be in the same place as the in the beta test." Kirito said.

"Okay but first we have to wait for Leafa to wake up." I said.

"Yeah, I know. Wanna get breakfast?" he asked?

"Sure." I answered, blushing slightly at the fought of eating with him at a cafe.

We ate at the cafe on the bottom floor of the inn. At about 10:15 Leafa came down and ate with us and we told her our plans to go explore the dungeon, to which she said it was a good idea.

* * *

 **(11:03am)**

We were at the entrance to the dungeon, having just killed the guards, telling Leafa the method we used for killing them during the beta test. Knock up the guard, arrow to the throat, finish it. We had killed the guards much faster then we did in the beta so that was a good sign.

* * *

 **(2:00pm)**

We were currently on the 8th floor of the dungeon and I had leveled up to level 8 and Leafa was almost there, as for Kirito, having leveled up earlier in the morning he was pretty far away, he was level 9 which means that next level he should get a new skill slot, and maybe his sword will get a significant boost instead of the relatively small one he or I usually got, because our weapons were down scaled from their full potential. I stuck to throwing picks and dagger when other people were around to hide that I was a beta tester though, Kirito's sword was conveniently similar looking to the [Anneal Katana] so people won't realize it is a different sword so uses it always, lucky. Kirito was killing some more of the [Ruin Kobold Troopers] while Leafa and I rested, we got tired easier due to out less efficient sword use and lower stats.

"Hey Kirito! Don't get to far on your own!" I called.

"I won't!" he answered and then a few seconds later "Hey, come over here." he called a moment later.

There was the stairs to the next level, right there. "Let's go up." he said.

"I see no reason not to." I answered "Leafa come on!" I yelled to Leafa who was moving slower due to being more tired then I was, after all I swing a dagger a bit and shoot, while she swings a relatively heavy sword. We went up the stairs and found... more of the exact same thing. "It just had to be the same didn't it?" asked Leafa, who hadn't been here before.

"It will be the same all the way till the boss room." I told her, to which she looked somewhat disappointed. After that little break we continued on, one floor at a time.

* * *

 **(7:12pm)**

We were on the 19th level looking for the stairs to the boss level, it was the most confusing floor, with the highest level mobs so it took the longest, other then the boss floor itself.

We had been wandering around killing the troopers that we came upon for about half an hour now "WHY! This is the worst, why couldn't it have been something else, like puzzles, or fighting, but NOOOO, it had to be a maze" whined Leafa for the umpteenth time now.

"Oh come on, if this works how I think it does it should take worst ca-" he was cut off as we turned a corner and saw the stairs to the next floor.

"Let's go and activate the [Personal Teleporter], like the ones in small towns that only people who have been there can teleport to." said Kirito, dragging Leafa up the stairs.

"Let's not tell anyone yet, because people will want to attempt it, but right now everyone is too low level to fight it, though tomorrow lets scout the boss" I said.

""Sure, makes sense."" said the siblings at the same time. We activated the personal teleporter and used it to go back to Horunka, the town we were at right now. Right now was the second day, and depending on what the results of tomorrows 'scouting' mission are, we may be on the 2nd floor by day 3, and at that rate we won't be in here more then a year. Though it is unlikely that we will be able to beat the boss with just the three of us. Kirito looked a bit depressed as he did most of the time after the start of this, though he tried to hide it. He was probably blaming himself because he helped make this.

"2 weeks should be long enough for people to start falling out of their stupor and get to a high enough level to face the boss. In the beta that would be level 5 for a full group, but it needs to be higher because there needs to be a large safety margin, lets say level 7+ to come to the raid. There should be 50 people willing to fight at level 7+ in 2 weeks, and if there aren't we will push the meeting back. Sound reasonable?" Kirito said.

""Yep."" said Leafa and I.

* * *

 **(November 3rd, 11:30am)**

We had just teleported to the teleporter in front of the boss door and were getting ready to go in, we had decided to invest our for now relatively meager funds into buying a teleport crystal for each of us in case of emergency, though they were very expensive on this floor, as well as expensive relative to the money we had in general.

"Let's go?" asked Kirito, our impromptu leader, because he was the best of us at fighting, and because NO WAY IN HELL AM I BEING THE LEADER OF ANYTHING! Even a small group of friends.

"Okay" "Sure" said Leafa and I.

Kirito pushed open the door and was met with a giant ugly red kobold, the same one as in the beta.

"Let's see how strong it is." said Kirito and ran forward, the boss struck at him faster and judging by the fact that Kirito flew back a bit at after the blow, though he had kept himself light on his feet so he would be thrown back, not take damage when he blocks the blow.

"Yep, definitely stronger then the beta test." said Kirito looking up at his hp and finding that his trick of letting the boss throw him had kept him from taking significant damage.

"We are going to need to be prepared, let's see how strong it really is, we go until one of us gets dangerous on hp, got it?" he asked.

"Hit it like we did in the beta test, Leafa you are with me, whenever Sinon hits him in the face we will get an opening, attack its stomach with me then." said Kirito.

"I'm ready." I said, drawing back an arrow.

Kirito and Leafa ran forward and once the boss started swinging at Kirito I loosed the arrow into its eye, and hit, as usual.

This caused the boss to clutch at its eye with its shield hand, and make its attacks go wild with its sword hand, but this only lasted a view seconds before it recovered, much less then the beta, and it had taken only about 5% of one bar.

"We can't kill this thing with just the 3 of us, it had much more health and recovers faster then it did in the beta, we will get too tired before it even gets to its second stage, and that stage is much stronger and faster." said Kirito, and I silently agreed with this.

I "Let's pull out now?" I asked, as Kirito parried another attack from the floor boss, and was launched into Leafa, who had a high enough strength stat to practically catch him.

""Yep"" said the siblings, geez they do that to much.

And on the note we bolted out of the boss room, Kirito bringing up the rear. "We will have to wait for a while before people start to level up before we gather a bunch of people to fight this boss" said Kirito.

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, November 17th, 9:01am)**

"Hey Argo." I said.

"Hey Ki-bou, why did you call me here so early?" the girl with make-up whiskers answered, Sinon and I knew why she had the whiskers in the beta, though no one else did, and she probably got used to them. She had failed the quest for [Martial Arts] extra skill, and the punishment for that is whiskers you can't remove. She was also wearing a brown cloak that covered her entire body and shadowed the top of her face, so all the was visible was the bottom half of the face.

"I am wondering how many people level 7+ there are right now, I want to gather them in a meeting." I said.

"You are in luck, someone else asked me to advertise his meeting regarding finding the boss room, though there were no level limitations on coming, I suggest you go, it will be the day after tomorrow at the amphitheater at the edge of this town, I was about to start hanging up this poster so this info will be free." the Rat said.

"Nothing from you is ever free." I said.

"Fine, fine, you caught me, you have to help me hang them up, here take these 10, once you hang them up you're good." she said.

* * *

 **(9:48am)**

I got back to our inn before Leafa woke up but after Sinon woke up.

"Hi Sinon, I talked to Argo, she says that there is a meeting day after tomorrow in this town, it is at 1:00pm" I said.

"Okay, well we are definitely going."

* * *

 **Cliffhanger-ish again, next chapter is the boss fight, sorry that this one is a little short, but the previous one was long so it is okay. I cut it short because I really need sleep, like all other humans, sorry.**

 **Did I skip to much, I just don't really see what they could have been doing in those two weeks.**

 **Please leave helpful reviews!**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	7. Chapter 7: Meeting and Fight Part 1

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Sorry that the last chapter was shorter, but I wrote an extra on an the one before it was extra long, and I update at a stupid rate anyway (proof that what I write sucks.)**

 **Anyway, boss meeting time, and maybe fight.**

 **Also, I will be using the anime spelling of Diabel and Egil.**

 **Without further ado I present, the newest in crappy chapters of a random SAO Fanfic**

Chapter 7: Meeting and Fight Part 1

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, November 19th, 12:55pm)**

We were at the amphitheater in Horunka waiting for the meeting to start, we were the first here because we planned to stock up on potions and crystals, but that went by faster then expected but we didn't have time to grind. People were starting to show up now, and in 5 minutes about 60 people were here.

Then a blue haired man wearing bronze colored armor over cyan clothes the same color as his hair, with a medium length one handed sword that could technically be a [Short Sword] or a [Longsword], and had a steel [Heavy Shield] a type of shield used mostly by lighter tanks, who looked to be in his twenties walked onto the stage, he was probably the one who organized it. "Hello and welcome, my name is Diabel, and my job here is knight" the self-proclaimed knight named Diabel said.

"There is no class system in this game!" said some random person in the crowd while half laughing. Other people also said similar things.

He then clapped his hand against his shield loudly for silence, and he got it "I gathered this meeting to discuss creating a large group of people to look for the boss in the dungeon, so far I have map data for the first 8 floors of the dungeon and a bit of floor 9, if anyone has any more to contribute please message it to me." he said.

"Shall we speak up?" Sinon asked in whisper, a very quite whisper to make sure no one heard her.

"I guess so, I will." I whispered back.

Then I stood up and said loudly "I little while back, my party and I found the boss room."

Most of the people were very shocked. "Before I continue I would like to confirm that no one below level 7 will come on the raid, we scouted the boss and anyone below that level will be in great danger." at that there was some annoyance, but the host, Diabel, was it seemed to agree.

"If you were able to find the boss room then I trust your judgment of the boss' strength." he said. After that we found that in total there were 43 people other then my party level 7 and above, which meant that if my party was a full party this would be a full raiding group.

"Then here is the map data." I said, PMing him the map data for the boss dungeon.

"Can you please tell us what you know about the boss?" he asked.

"What we know is, that the boss is a 5 meter tall, red, kobold, he has a one-handed axe and a buckler, he has enough strength to send me flying when I parried his blow while poorly grounded, and that he has a lot of health. As far as we could tell the weakest easy to hit point on the boss is the center of the rhombus painted in blue on its stomach, the weakest point of all is the eyes. The boss room is a giant throne room 100 meters deep and 20 wide, and he spawns [Ruin Kobold Sentinels] periodically and possibly when he takes enough damage, the [Ruin Kobold Sentinels] are only a little stronger then the [Ruin Kobold Troopers] but they use large [Halberds] or [Two-handed Maces]. The bosses name is [Illfang the Kobold Lord]. That is all we know." I said.

"Thank you for the information, it looks like this just turned from a meeting to discuss finding the boss to a meeting to discuss beating the boss." said Diabel.

"Wait just a second!" said a man with an orange hair style that made him look like an orange cactus, apparently Leafa and Sinon also thought so because they giggled slightly.

"My name's Kibaou and there are two things I want to get off my chest, first is a question to you *points to me* I would like to know why you didn't tell anyone the location of boss earlier, because of that more people have died in the time we haven't been fighting the boss." he said.

"Look around." I said "There are currently 46 players of level 7 or above players willing to fight a floor boss right now, that is 7 full parties of 6 plus my party, this is 8 parties, which is a raid group. If we attempted the boss with less people, or lower leveled people, we would all die, that is the reason we waited to give away the location of the boss, so people like you don't rush and try it and then get themselves killed." I finished.

"Fine." he snarled.

"Onto my second point, you know the thousand people who died so far? Some of you need to apologize to them!" he said angrily.

"You mean the ex-beta-testers?" asked Diabel, with a slight bit of nervousness in his voice, he was probably one himself.

"Of course I mean the ex-beta-testers, the day this stupid game started they just up and vanished, leaving all us new guys behind. They took all the good hunting spots and left nothing but dust for the rest of us. We should make them get down on their knees and apologize, and make them give up the money and items they stole as compensation!" he almost screamed.

I decided this was rather quickly getting out of hand, and I needed to do something about it. I jumped from my seat at the outer levels of the amphitheater down to the place at the bottom where he was standing. "Several questions, why should the beta testers give you the stuff they earned and not 'stole' through hard work and risking their lives, as 'compensation' for the deaths of people you have no relation to whatsoever, that sounds more like you are trying to rob them. Second of the thousand people who died so far, 800 were suicides, and of the remaining 200 monster deaths about half of them were beta testers, that means that even if all your other claims were right there would only be a hundred people who should be apologized to, and there were 213 people killed by people on the outside. And lastly, did you get this guidebook?." I asked pulling out a copy of the guidebook which was made mostly by Argo and me, though mostly Argo.

"Yeah." he said fuming with anger.

"This guidebook was written by the ex-beta-testers, and on top of all that, the game has changed from the beta test, quite a lot."

He was now literally steaming because of the [Exaggerated Emotion System] I didn't know existed till now. But he sat down and admitted defeat anyway, and I walked back up to my place and sat down, feeling pretty smug.

"Don't you think you might have over done it a bit?" asked Leafa in a whisper "He looks like he is in danger of dying from being so angry." she finished giggling slightly.

"Nah." I whispered back. "And anyway it was funny."

"Now, shall we be getting on with the meeting?" asked Diabel.

After getting that no answer meant yes he said "We will be teaming up in parties of 6! We can't fight this boss alone."

"Well there are 3 of us and we are the highest level here, but I am worried that they might die." I said pointing to a lone person in a robe, I was fairly certain we were the highest level here because we were grinding practically non-stop and I was level 14 almost 15, while Sinon and Leafa were about 13 and a half each.

"Let's invite them to our party?" I asked.

"Sure." "Okay." were the responses I got so I walked over to the person.

"Did you get left out?" I asked the person.

Who answered in a male but young voice, probably a boy around my age **(Author's note, Bet you thought it would be Asuna, and I thought so too until I got to writing it and changed my mind.)** "I didn't get left out, it just seems that everybody already knows each other. I wouldn't fit in."

"Well why don't you join up with us?" I asked "Just for the boss raid, of course." I added, sending him a party request.

"I guess I don't see why not." he said as he pressed accept. "Sinon, Kirito?" he muttered "I saw those names on the beta test discussion board, the names of the strongest players I think."

"Hey are you and Sinon those beta testers who duoed the first floor boss?" he asked without a hint of hate in his voice. "Yeah, how did you know?" I asked.

"I saw it on the discussion board for the beta test, which I was reading on my brothers account, he was a beta tester, though he couldn't log in on launch day, thankfully."

"Oh" I answered before finally looking up at his name, it read Horum.

"Well okay, Horum, let's go back to my party." I said.

After we walked back I introduced Horum to Leafa and Sinon.

"Okay, anybody not have a party?" asked Diabel.

When no one answered he continued "Good, okay we meet here at 11am tomorrow and leave for the boss dungeon. Meeting adjourned!"

People started dispersing immediately, and so did we, and we dragged Horum along with us. "Where are you staying?" I asked him.

"I was renting an inn room for a week but it just expired so nowhere at the moment." he answered.

"We have a 2 bedroom suite with a little living room, but each of the bedrooms have 2 beds so we have an extra bed you can use." I said.

"Okay..." he agreed, and we made our way to the inn we were staying at, hopefully for the last night.

"What weapon do you use?" I asked him as we walked.

"I use a [Two-handed Broadsword], a large one, my stats are mostly strength and a bit a of vitality." he answered.

"I see." I said.

The rest of the trip to the inn was just some small talk and chatter.

Once we entered out room he unequipped his cloak, revealing that he was slightly younger then I expected him to be, about Leafa's age, not mine. He had silver hair with a tinge of grey and violet eyes, his hair was a curly and came down about 2/3 of the to his shoulders, and he had timid features. His sword was almost about as tall as he has, though not quite and also about 8 inches wide at the base, hardly getting thinner most of the way and then going in at about 45°. He was about 5 feet tall, somewhat but not very much shorter then me.

"It is about 3:00pm so let's have lunch and do some grinding, what level are you at?" I asked, directing the last part at the new kid.

"I am currently level 12, about half way to 13." he said as if it was no big deal, though after them, he was probably the highest level player.

"Were you in the beta test?" Sinon asked him.

"No, but my brother was, and he spent so much time talking about it he ended up explaining the sword skill system to me so I knew how to use it." he answered.

"Leafa can you cook us lunch? Unless you have a cooking skill?" I said, the last part once more directed at Horum.

"Nope. Does she?" he answered.

"No, but she cooks well enough in real life that if she turns off the assist mode she can make good food, though it is slower and harder then with the assist, at this low a level you can't exactly spare a skill slot on it." I answered for her because she had already left and was humming while cooking something in the small kitchen in the suite.

* * *

 **(1st person, Horum, 3:10pm)**

I had been lazing around and chatting with my new friends for about 10 minutes, when Leafa said "Come on guys, come eat!" while setting things on the table.

She and Kirito were almost certainly siblings but asking about it might count as violating the taboo on talking about the outside world, and it didn't really matter. The only way it could matter was if he wanted to date her or something... wait did I just think that? I blushed at the thought and turned away so they wouldn't notice.

Lunch was the best food, and the best time, I had experienced after the start of this accursed death game began, which was only two weeks ago so it isn't that surprising but still. It was interesting how in the beta test 2 weeks in they had already killed 10 of the floor bosses, apparently 5 of the total 19 that were killed were killed by a ridiculously powerful duo of players, the very same Kirito and Sinon he was chatting with right now, for someone who got trapped in a death trap he was awfully lucky.

"This food is very good." I said to Leafa realizing that I had finished and forgotten to thank her right away.

"Well now that we are done eating, lets go get some training in before tomorrow!" said Kirito, who so far had done the most talking, though it seemed that Leafa was far more social, as for Sinon, she had said 'hi' but not much more, she was supposed to be very shy, I didn't expect that shy.

"""Alright.""" said all of us at once.

"The best place to grind here should be the boss dungeon so let's head over there." said Kirito, who seemed to be the leader of their group.

* * *

 **(5:35pm)**

We had reached the 19th floor of the boss dungeon a little bit ago, thanks to them already having maps of the area, and were killing all the kobolds, due to the nature of this maze, if we left the floor and went to the boss floor, waited for a few minutes, and came back down, all the monsters would respawn, making grinding here insanely effective compared to most other places. I could kill them in one sword skill assisted hit, and most of time without the sword skills as well, but either way my time between swings was very long so if there are 3 at once I can kill them all with one swing, but if 3 come one by one then I am in a bad spot, currently though I was paired with Leafa, so I was covered for those cases.

"Horum, stop spacing out!" called Leafa who was currently engaged in a fight with two of the troopers, I rushed forward and swung my heavy sword at the one between us and killed it one hit, then Leafa easily finished the other one off.

Kirito and Sinon were paired like Leafa and I were though I knew that they would be getting a lot more kills then we would.

* * *

 **(7:00pm)**

We all met up and stated out levels, I had gotten from mid 12 to mid 13, Sinon and Leafa had gotten from mid 13 to mid 14 and Kirito had gotten from late 14 to early 16.

"Alright, because we have the boss fight tomorrow, let's call it a day early." said Leafa. I was inclined to agree, my fighting style meant that I had a hard time fighting for long periods of time, which meant that grinding would be harder for me until there were low spawn rate high exp mobs.

"Fine by me." I said.

"Okay." said Kirito.

And Sinon... just nodded.

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, November 20th, 10:57am)**

We were at the meeting point, along with almost all the other people that would be on the raid, we had agreed that we would work as a pair of pairs, where the smaller pairs would be Kirito and I as well as Leafa and Horum, who I still couldn't bring myself to talk much around, it was like a defense mechanism, shut out everyone and they can't hurt you. Though I was slowly getting over it, in general and mostly in Horum's particular case.

The bell rang as the clock struck 11:00am and Diabel said "Okay, everyone is here so let's move out, we should be able to make it to the top of boss dungeon within two hours or so with the map data, you four, you provided the map data so you lead." The last part translated to 'You take the lead so you trigger any traps there might be' but we didn't mind, because mistrust was reasonable and we knew there were no traps, plus we didn't mind the extra exp.

"Let's go!" he said inspiringly before heading off in the direction of the boss room with his party in the lead, ours close behind and the rest tailing after.

* * *

 **(1:00pm)**

We were just about to reach the top, so Diabel estimate of 2 hours was a pretty good guess.

After about 10 minutes rest everyone was rested up. Diabel walked up to the giant double doors and said "I got one last thing to say to you! Let's WIN!" that earned a cheer and he turned and opened the door. "COMMENCE ATTACK!" he yelled.

* * *

 **Cliffhangers, I know I'm the best, but seriously, I update daily or more so it isn't that big a deal.**

 **Also how do you like the OC? I just had the image in my head for some reason so I wrote it down as best I could, then I decided to make him use a giant sword because that is very different from the rest of them. This boy will end up being Leafa's boyfriend by the way.**

 **Should Diabel die? I don't think I will make him die but I want your opinion.**

 **So far so good with the daily updates, and my story is 23k words strong now, in a week! 24 reviews, 14 favorites, and 23 follows, that is a lot more then I expected when I started writing this. Also a thousand views, which is AWESOME!**

 **Anyway please leave your opinion on the OC and wether Diabel should die, as well as the Kibaou part. Please no hate.**

 **Cya, me oouuttiiyy!**


	8. Chapter 8: Fight Part 2 and Kendo?

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Authors notes, as usual, sorry for the cliffhanger last chapter.**

 **No one told me if I should have Diabel live or die so I will have to choose myself.**

Chapter 8: Fight Part 2 and Kendo?

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, November 20th, 1:00pm)**

We were just about to reach the top, so Diabel estimate of 2 hours was a pretty good guess.

After about 10 minutes rest everyone was rested up. Diabel walked up to the giant double doors and said "I got one last thing to say to you! Let's WIN!" that earned a cheer and he turned and opened the door. "COMMENCE ATTACK!" he yelled.

We all charged in and he yelled "Squads A and C, switch in! Here it comes! Squads B and D, block! Squad C, keep guarding and prepare to switch! Everyone else, when you fall back, regroup and flank them! Squads, E, F, H, and G keep those minions off us!"

"Alright, lets go!" Kirito yelled to Leafa and me.

We attacked them the same way as the troopers, though they were tougher because practically their only weak point was the throat.

In about 30 minutes [Illfang] was in the red and Diabel shouted "Stand back! I got this." charging forward. Then I and apparently Kirito remembered that [Illfang] switched weapons at this point. And just as I thought that [Illfang] started pulling out a tulwar? Wait, that's a nodachi! I was about to shout something but Kirito reacted first, running forward and in front of Diabel, putting his sword in a blocking position, just as the boss after jumping from wall to wall jumped down a him.

The swords clashed and there was shockwave "Get back!" yelled Kirito to Diabel.

[Illfang]'s feet dropped to the floor and he and Kirito were standing off, each with their katana's. Kirito jumped up and forward to strike at the boss, the boss tried to block but I threw a throwing pick at the boss's eye, causing him to put his sword in the wrong place, and Kirito's sword lit with the glow of a sword skill, probably [Power Blow], a sword skill that boosts the strength and speed of a blow, available with any one handed sword. He hit [Illfang] square in the face, then brought his sword down as he dropped down to land a hit on the boss's weak stomach, dealing considerable damage. The boss's hp dropped down to 18% of the last bar, from the 25% that marked the beginning of the red zone.

The boss swung its sword down at Kirito, who blocked and got thrown back into... oof... me.

"Kirito? You okay?" I ask looking at his hp which was near full.

"Yep, never better." he said slightly sarcastically.

"Leafa, Horum, can you attack the legs while I grad his attention? Sinon aim for the eyes!" He yelled getting up and charging at the boss.

Horum and Leafa charged from either side of the boss, Horum swung his sword in an [Executer] sword skill, which swung the sword at neck level, which was more like knee level for this boss, with enormous force, cutting into the leg just below the knee. Normally the boss would target him while he was in [Post Motion Delay] but it was busy with Kirito and couldn't ignore him either.

Then Leafa chopped at the other leg with [Power Blow] reducing his mobility, now the boss had trouble moving due to the massive amount of damage its legs had taken. I called "Kirito, you ready?"

"Ready!" he called back and I threw two picks towards the boss's eyes, now temporarily blinded the boss was unable to block as Kirito slashed through the boss hip to shoulder, throwing it back and killing it. It shattered into the familiar blue polygons and erupted with a blinding blueish-white light, once the light cleared a banner hung in the air.

 **Congratulations!**

"That wasn't too bad, I mean no one died." said Kirito after we walked up to me, smiling.

"Please don't tell me the [Cloak of Midnight] was the [Last Attack Bonus] again." I said quietly.

"Sure was." he said.

"Nooo!" I gave a quite theatrical wail.

People were cheering for us, mostly Kirito.

"This victory belongs to you." said a dark-skinned giant with a battle axe.

"I owe you my life." said Diabel "I got greedy and nearly died for it."

"You were a beta tester?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Speaking of which, what was the [Last Attack Bonus]" he said quietly.

"I won't tell." I answered, to which he gave a disappointed sound.

Then I heard some yelling "Filthy beta-testa', because of you Diabel nearly died, you could have told us about the boss's sword change earlier."

To which Kirito answered "Only two people knew of that ahead of time, during the beta this boss was duo killed." excluding the part where he was in fact one of the two people "Also, nobody died, so no harm done even if I did withhold some info I had from you. And third and final, what possible advantage would I have from doing something then instead of at the start if I knew ahead of time, it would only make sense to say it at the start or not at all."

Then Diabel said "I should probably go shut him up before he causes problems." before heading off in the direction of Kibaou getting verbally beaten.

"Kibaou! The reason I nearly died is because I got greedy, not because I was misinformed, if I hadn't gotten greedy and followed the plan I would have been in no danger." Diabel said. At least he was honest.

Then Kirito walked over to the pillar of light that would teleport us to the next floor where I was waiting "Horum, Leafa! Come on!" he called and they ran over.

"Let's go to the next floor and activate the [Teleport Gate] there." he said once they walked over.

* * *

 **(1st person, Horum, 2:03pm)**

We had just gone through and activated the [Teleport Gate] in Urbus, the second floor main city. I was very impressed by my teammates, Kirito was a total badass and Sinon was ridiculously accurate. Leafa was not as good as either Kirito or Sinon, but still really good with a sword. If I remembered correctly Kirito was the national champion in kendo, which means his sister must one of the national quarter-finalists so it is no surprise that they are both really good with katanas.

We were currently heading to the best inn on the second floor that Kirito remembered from the beta, they had given me the offer to join up with them for now, and I had accepted gratefully. 10 minutes later we arrived, it turns out that it wasn't an inn, but a farmer's house on the edge of town. It was still early so we had plenty of time to complete the quest which allowed you to rent the house which had a bath, and two bedrooms with two beds each, as well as free milk, which was nice. It also had a small kitchen and dining room.

By the time we completed the quest is was around 3 and we rented the house. Somehow we ended up having Sinon and Kirito paired up as well as Leafa and I, which didn't make sense, but whatever, it didn't really matter. When we got there Leafa decided that we should have lunch, and so she started making it, I was inclined by my stomach to agree. Sinon had decided to take a bath. Kirito had gone out to grind, I swear his go-to activity is leveling, no wonder he is the highest leveled player, he does such risky things. And I just sat in the kitchen on the bottom floor, talking to Leafa. Somehow we had gotten to talking about the real world and we found out that we lived fairly close to each other and went to the same school.

At around 3:30 Kirito returned for lunch, right as it was finished, either he knew how long it took Leafa to make whatever she was making or she had messaged him. In about 5 more minutes Sinon came down with her hair slightly wet, geez who baths for 30 minutes straight, on the other hand she probably hasn't had a bath in two weeks so it makes more sense.

Lunch was rice and some plain fish, which Leafa somehow made look really fancy.

"This tastes delicious!" is what I tried to say but my mouth was full so it came out as a total mess. At which all three of them laughed at me.

After I finished my mouthful I tried again "This tastes delicious!" I said, this time succeeding.

At which Sinon and Kirito nodded and Leafa mumbled something.

At around 3:50 we finished eating and Kirito left to do some more grinding.

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, 4:00pm)**

I was out grinding, because I was bored and in my opinion it was a good pass time, it was useful and fun, if you fight tough things. Risk? What risk, it just adds to the fun! I might be a little bit crazy...

Anyway right now I was heading to the top of the nearest mountain, I was wondering what was there.

* * *

 **(4:31pm)**

It had taken me half an hour to get to the top, this better be worth it. And it was. At the top there was a dojo, so I went in and found an NPC with a golden question mark above his head, signifying a quest NPC. He looked like a stereotypical old sensei, and in the room there were 4 training swords. I walked up to him and asked "Is something the matter?"

"Only that I lack students." he answered.

"Will you train me?" I asked him.

"Do you wish to be trained in the art of wielding two swords?" _**'Quest Reward [Nito Ryu] Extra Skill that allows duel wielding of Katanas.'**_

I remembered adding the skill, but I left the way to get it to Cardinal to figure out, looks like it decided to do this.

"Yes." I answered.

"Beat me, without the use of sword skills, wielding those two swords, and I will teach you." He said as he pointed to one set of swords, perfect.

I grabbed a pair and he picked up his. "Get ready! GO!" he said with a pause, I was already running forward by the time he finished saying go, ducking under one of use strikes and parrying the other, leaving one sword free, I tried to strike at his body but he parried, so far he was better then most people I had fought before. I used the sword I had used to parry to strike at him, the way it was positioned it was closer to him then the sword it had parried, so he had to move his other sword to block, and I struck with my right sword, now free, hitting him.

Then he used his right sword to strike downwards on me so I had to parry with my left sword. He struck with his left sword and I brought my right one up to block, then I shoved hard just before our swords hit, throwing him off balance, I ran forward and slashed him with my left sword, winning the math.

"You have done well, there is little I can teach you though." _**'Quest Complete; Reward: Extra Skill [Nito Ryu] unlocked, leveling this skill will also level your katana skill.'**_ I inwardly fist pumped and thought _'Yes!'_ Well, now I had to test it out, so I need another katana, the best katana other then mine so far would be an [Anneal Katana] so I guess I should go back to the first floor and do that quest. I walked back to the town, which only took about 10 minutes and walked onto the [Teleport Gate]

"Teleport Horunka." I said clearly, and my vision turned white.

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, 6:53pm)**

I wonder where Kirito is, he left live 3 hours ago. "Sinon what you reading?" asked Leafa, though I wasn't really reading right now, just staring at the book while thinking.

"Not sure, I just pulled a book off the shelf, it is called 'Fall of the Kobold Lord' basically some sort of story about the first boss fight. Though not an adaptation of what happened but a folk lore style thing." I answered.

Just after I finished talking the door opened "Hi guys." said Kirito.

"Did anything interesting happen?" Leafa asked.

"I found an NPC better at kendo then you are." he answered, if I remembered correctly Leafa was quarter-finalist in the nationals last year, so that is saying a lot, apparently it also shocked Leafa. "Did you beat him?" she asked.

"Yep, I had to fight him Nito Ryu style and the reward is this." he said tapping through his menu, suddenly a second katana appeared on his back.

"It is an [Extra Skill] called [Nito Ryu] that allows dual wielding of katanas, but to get it you need to know how to do [Nito Ryu] style kendo, well. You only get one try at fighting him so if you lose you can't try again. So I doubt many people will be able to. I am sure Argo will buy that info for A LOT of money." he said before opening his menu and going to messages, probably sending a message to Argo.

Ten minutes later there is a knock on the door and Kirito opens it, it was Argo.

"You said you had some info I probably didn't and that you would be willing to sell it." she said in her usual mischievous tone.

"Yes, it is info on an [Extra Skill], would you like to buy it? 1500 col." he said.

"Yes, yes I would, but I don't have to pay if I already know about the skill. Deal?"

"Deal, the skill is called [Nito Ryu], it allows someone to equip two katanas, it comes with its own skills, along with letting you use your normal katana skills with either hand. To get the skill you have to know how to do Nito Ryu style kendo and beat a sensei on the top of that mountain to get it, you cannot use sword skills and your stats are set to default for the fight. If you lose you cannot try again, and thus cannot get the skill." he said.

"Okay, I am surprised, you know something I don't." said Argo opening her menu and 'gifting' Kirito 1500 col.

"Well, bye Argo." he said, as Argo started leaving "Bye Ki-bou!" she called before vanishing into the night.

"Tomorrow we are going to get the [Extra Skill] called [Martial Arts]." he said before adding "Also Leafa, can you please cook dinner?"

"Sure!"

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, 9pm)**

We had gone to bed early because it was too late to go out grinding and there was nothing else to do really, so I was in my bed. Somehow it ended up being that Sinon and I ended up sharing a room instead of Horum and I. Sinon fell asleep quickly, but her breathing was still irregular so she was probably having nightmares. I tried to stay awake but in the en...

Suddenly I was woken up by a not very loud scream from the other side of the room and found that Sinon was sitting up, breathing hard.

"Are you okay?" I asked, while checking the time, it was 12:02am so late, but not very late.

"Yes, I'm fine, just nightmares." she mumbled.

"You don't sound fine." I said. She mumbled something again and I think she blushed a little when she said it, I could guess where this was probably going, because sometimes when we were younger Sugu would come to my room and sleep there when she had nightmares.

Then she said slightly louder, blushing a lot more "Can you come to my bed, at least until I fall asleep?"

I didn't see much of a reason not too, it just meant I needed to wake up a little earlier to make sure Leafa doesn't find out, because otherwise the teasing would never end. So I set an alarm clock for 7:30am and walked over to Sinon's bed. Surprisingly Sinon hugged me for a while, and she was... sobbing? Then her breathing became regular and her grip loosened. I looked over a her and saw her sleeping. She looked really cute...

* * *

 **(November 21st, 7:30am)**

My alarm clock rung inside my head and woke me up, I looked around and saw Sinon hugging me. I almost jumped up before I remembered and got up carefully instead. I was sleepy enough that I didn't feel very awkward though, at least. I walked over to my bed and fell back asleep.

* * *

 **Writing that last part was awkward...**

 **Also Kirito finally realizes that he has a crush on her... sorta... not really... but kinda.**

 **Sorry that this chapter was a bit shorter but this felt like I good place to end it.**

 **Please leave helpful reviews, I read ALL of them, though I don't answer all the questions, sooorrrryyy.**

 **Possible spoilers, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

 **My plans for now: Kirito and Sinon become Beaters, during probably second boss fight. Then Leafa and Horum stick together and Kirito and Sinon stick together and the story which between the two groups, which sometimes encounter each other.**

 **I know, I have very detailed, well thought out, long term plans, right...**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	9. Chapter 9: Dungeon Date

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Hello... sorry not many authors notes...**

 **Also sorry, but this chapter is another one that starts with someone waking up!**

 **Just a question to all the authors out there, do you write authors notes at the beginning, the end or both. And chronologically as well. For me I write the first ones before writing the story and then edit them a bit and write the ones at the end after I write the story.**

 **Also italic double quotes is messages example:** _"Message"_

 **Also I decided that with the things that tell you what time it is and such, I will only change the things that changed from the last one, so I will not put 1st person unless the previous one was 3rd person and vice versa.**

 **Also prepare for the Sinon X Kirito to begin.**

Chapter 9: Dungeon Date

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, November 21st, 9:00am)**

I didn't have any nightmares after I woke up from the first one. Wait... I asked Kirito to sleep in my bed because I had nightmares... That is awkward, I hope THAT part was a dream, he is in his own bed sleeping right now so it probably was, I won't ask because if it didn't happen then it would be really really awkward...

I equipped my casual clothes (instead of sleeping ones, no way would I invite someone to sleep in my bed (just thinking that is weird) while wearing nothing but undergarments.) and went downstairs to find that no one else had woken up. I took out my bow (which Horum still didn't know about) and went outside to do some target practice.

After the first few shots which were slightly off target I started hitting with my usual accuracy, predicting trajectories just comes naturally to me. At least there is something I am better at then Kirito, also breaking down into a crying mess but that isn't a good thing...

At some point someone had come out probably because after the tenth perfect shot in a row or so I heard clapping behind me. I turned around and relaxed when I saw that it was Kirito.

"Good morning Sinon." he said.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" I said angrily to him, how does he do it? I rarely get snuck up on by anybody else, but in the real world and here he just walks up behind me and I don't notice him at all.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to, I just walk quietly." he answered raising his hands slightly.

"'Quietly'? More like completely silent, I don't think I have ever heard you walk." I answered back "Oh whatever, good morning, just trying to make sure I don't get out of practice with my bow, I guess I should probably start using it now that everybody knows we are beta testers."

"Yeah, probably, are you high enough level that it has its freeze ability yet? My katana hasn't gotten its fire back yet." he answered.

"Nope, not yet, just a normal bow, about as powerful as the basic bow." I answered.

"Also..." he hesitated before saying "Let's just not mention last night to anyone... Okay?" so that wasn't a dream.

"Yeah. Let's not." I said awkwardly.

"Anyway, off that topic, once the others wake up let's go get the [Martial Arts] skill, though Leafa uses her katana two-handed and Horum has a giant two handed sword they might not need it, but still let's wait for them to wake up and ask them. Meanwhile let's go do some training, I want to test out my new skill and you should get used to using a bow again." he said.

* * *

 **(1:31pm)**

I heard a little _bling_ that was the noise that said that you got a message, I went into my messages and saw that Leafa had asked me where I was, seeing as Kirito also opened his menu, she probably sent him a message as well. I pressed reply and entered _"_ _Doing some morning grinding with Kirito"_ to which she answered _"Okay, well we got bored of waiting for you two so we had breakfast already, so you'll have to eat something else."_ I closed my menu and asked Kirito "Wanna go back?"

"Sure, I think I got the hang of using two swords again." We had been killing some oversized oxen and Kirito was godlike with two swords, I can see how he got to be the national champion in kendo.

"'Got the hang of' right, more like 'could solo a floor boss without breaking a sweat'" I said after that thought.

"I wouldn't say solo, but we could probably duo this floor boss, I remember it being pretty easy to dodge. As long as you jump when he slams his hammer down and hide while he charges." he answered "But first we need to find it. Let's head back though."

"Alright."

* * *

 **(Kirito, 1:52pm)**

We walked into the house and got "How was your date?" from Leafa to which Sinon turned into a tomato, and pouted something out, while I managed to keep my cool and answer "We were not on a date."

"Right..." was Leafa's answer. Since when did Sugu/Leafa start teasing me?

"Anyway good morning." I said "Sinon and I were going to get the [Extra Skill] called [Martial Arts] we mentioned yesterday, because both of you use your swords two-handed it may be unnecessary but we thought we should tell you anyway. It is in a cave about half way up that mountain." I pointed to the mountain I climbed yesterday.

"I definitely don't need that. There is no way I can spare a hand to punch with my sword." Horum said.

"I don't think I need it either." said Leafa.

"Well okay, we'll be going then." said Sinon when suddenly Leafa looked like she remembered something.

"Don't you two still need to eat?" she asked.

"In this game willpower can substitute for food." I teased her "We'll eat later, we have some stuff to eat with us anyway and we can eat it if we take a break."

"Wait we do?" asked Sinon.

"I do anyway." I answered before walking out the door.

* * *

 **(Sinon)**

Kirito just walked out the door, ouch, and why didn't he tell me he had food, and when did he get it?

I ran out the door after him "Hey! Wait Kirito!" I called.

"Sorry!" he called back, stopping.

After I caught up to him we started walking up the mountain, it took about 15 minutes to get to the cave entrance and we went in.

"Uhhh this was so much easier in the beta test, just a straight corridor not some maze full of tr-" I was cut short by falling into a giant hole in the floor "SINON!" yelled Kirito and jumped down after me. He put himself into a position where he caught up to me before turning on his stomach and matching my position and speed. "Are you alright?" he asked, which was kinda silly because we hadn't hit the ground yet.

Before I could answer the tunnel very slowly started turning towards being horizontal from vertical and we were sliding along and slowing down, eventually coming to a stop. At some point Kirito had put himself under me so I hadn't taken any damage. I looked over at him and saw that his health was in the low yellow.

"Kirito? Are you okay?" I asked, panicking a bit.

"Yep. I'm fine, you?" he answered.

"Yeah, me too." I answered, he was still laying down on the stone floor, so I lay down next to him.

"So are we going to get going and find our way out now?" he asked getting up.

"Sure." I answered, also getting up.

We started walking down the tunnel which was slightly up hill and saw a large cavern with a dojo, this looked like place where you got the [Extra Skill], but the method of getting there was certainly different.

"Well that's it, but that isn't how I planned on getting here." said Kirito.

We walked inside and found the quest npc who also looked like some sensei.

"Have you come to learn the martial arts?" the npc asked.

Kirito answered "Yes."

"Then bear these marks until you break that rock, but you cannot use any sword skills." He pointed to a giant rock and while we turned to loom he lashed out with a paint brush and drew whiskers on out faces, much like Argo's.

"The only solution that will remove those whiskers is in a bottle inside the rock, now you will bear these marks of shame or break the rock." and our quest log updated showing the quest. I turned to look at Kirito and couldn't help but giggle, he looked very, very silly with those whiskers.

"What are you laughing at?" he asked.

"You look funny with whiskers." I answered, still giggling slightly.

"Oh? I think you look cute in them. Now you just need cat ears." he answered and I blushed.

"Geez, you didn't have to say that." I said.

"But I wanted to." he answered, what nerve!

"Anyway lets just go punch that rock already." I said, and that we did it took as a few tries but we managed to get the [Martial Arts] skill that you get upon acquiring the quest without being told right, it was slightly different then the beta test.

* * *

 **(Kirito, 3:04pm)**

We had broken the rock and gotten the [Marital Arts] skill. Sinon was at level 16 already and I hadn't used my skill slot from level 10 so we both had a skill slot open for the skill.

"Let's go back now?" I asked Sinon who had just finished removing her whiskers, shame.

"Uhh..." she looked like she was about to say something but decided against it "Sure let's go back."

"Okay, but what were you going to say?" I asked.

"N-nothing." she stuttered out.

"Well okay then..." I said, not buying it.

* * *

 **(4:13pm)**

We had been wandering around inside the mountain for about an hour and still not found the way out, teleport crystals do work in here but this is starting to look like some sort of dungeon and there might be loot, which would be nice.

"Hey Kirito, look over here." said Sinon, she was standing next to a spot of wall which looked different from the rest.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know, I am going to try touching it." she said.

"Okay but be careful." I told her, this was suspicious.

She touched it and it slid to the side, opening a passage. "Cool, maybe this is the way out, or loot." she said.

"Maybe, or it could be a trap." I said, remembering that a lot of the time this sort of thing was a trap "We have to be carful. I wish I had the [Searching] skill right now."

"Okay, but let's go." she said walking forward into the corridor.

We walked for about 10 minutes before it opened up into a large stone room with caverns on the wall, a couple of loot chests, some piles of gold, maybe a few thousand col worth, not much but not little, and a side-boss door, it looked similar to a floor boss door but it was smaller and lighter color, as well as not being in a boss dungeon.

"Let's check the chests, but stick together any or all of them could be traps." I said to Sinon, who was looking around in awe.

"Okay." she said grabbing my hand "So if we teleport we teleport together."

I walked over to the closer of the two chests and opened it, inside was a... golden necklace, with a dark green gem in it. I picked it up and tapped it with the motion for basic appraisal, which works mostly on dungeon loot like this and everyone had. A window popped and said _**'Amulet of the Night Ranger; This item reduces the chance that enemies will target you and reduce agro range, effectively a passive less effective hiding skill, Skill bonus of ? in skill ?; Upgrading will increase the effects, but not the skill bonus to ?'**_

"Sinon, I think this item is for you. It reduces chance that enemies target you and gives bonus in an extra skill I don't have, judging by its name and my knowledge of extra skills it is an [Archery] skill bonus" I said as I tossed her the amulet.

"Thanks, and yep you were right, it is a hefty bonus of 50 in archery" she said, putting the amulet on.

"It looks nice on you." I said, to which she blushed, which made her look cute and I said so. Which made her blush even more, and look like someone replaced her head with a ripe cherry.

"Geez." she muttered.

"Let's go check the other chest." I said.

We walked over to the chest and opened it, and inside was a silver ring with a small pitch black, slightly shiny gem. I picked it up and appraised it and it said _**'Ring of Shadow Phase; When you are hit the attack will phase through you, then you are vulnerable for 10 seconds before the ability refreshes, while it is on cooldown the gem will stop shining, Can also be used for 10 seconds of ghost mode, but then cooldown lasts for 30 minutes and it does nothing during that time; Upgrading will reduce the time, minimum of 5 seconds. Upgrading will also increase it to two attacks before you can be hurt at max upgrades. Also increases ghost mode length to 30 seconds while decreasing cooldown to 15 minutes at max, linear scaling.'**_

"This ring is overpowered." I said, putting it on.

"What does it do?" she asked me to which I challenged her to a first strike duel.

"Why?" she asked.

"Just accept and you will see." I answered and she accepted the duel request.

"Attack me." I told her, so she struck out with her dagger and... it passed right through me.

"What!" she said shocked "You're right, it is overpowered. What is the limitation?"

"It happens once every ten seconds, when max upgraded it has two separate charges and the cooldown for each one is 5 seconds. Against a slow attacking boss this makes me near invulnerable. Though I would still get stunned by skills like [Numbing Impact] which are AOE stun, but I wouldn't take damage. It still allows blocking and if you block it doesn't trigger, unless you would have taken a lot of damage, if it is little damage then you still take the small amount of damage."

"The second floor boss has slow powerful attacks, which means that with that ring and your dps with two swords, you could probably solo it." she said.

"I am not gonna risk it, but if it is the some boss as the beta, or similar, then yes I probably could." I said "Anyway, let's fight the side-boss now?"

"Sure, but you lead. And let's get our crystals ready, and even if we win, we are teleporting out of here, I am sick of wandering around." she said. I did as she told and got a crystal ready before opening the door. In front of us was an inanimate golem? Once we stepped a few steps in, the boss's eyes started glowing red and it raised its head. The name [The Guardian] appeared next to its head, along with 2 health bars, its cursor was of the red color that signified it being within our capabilities, in other words, relatively easy.

"This is a stone golem, so it will probably have slow and strong attacks, a perfect test for my new ring, and hopefully your amulet keeps him from targeting you." I said starting to run towards the boss. I struck at its leg, and unsurprisingly my sword bounced off. The golem swung his fist down and I noticed that the ground wasn't an immortal object. And that there were 5 pillars, 4 smaller ones and a large one.

"Sinon, I have an idea, I think that this fight requires the golem to destroy pillars so rocks fall on its head, because my over leveled sword can't scratch it. Go over to the large pillar so nothing falls on you." I yelled, before running over so that I am facing the golem with my back to a pillar. The golem ran forward and tried to slam its fist into me, but I jumped up and its fist slammed into the pillar destroying it. Then I landed on the fist, and checked my ring, it was still glowing so I didn't get hit yet. I jumped off as fast as I good and phased through the falling rubble landing on top of it after if collapsed on the golem, I spared a glance in Sinon's direction and saw that she was fine.

The pile I was standing on started moving and I jumped off, the golem stood up with half of its first bar gone. Looks like the big pillar was supposed to be cover for any other party members and the four others were supposed to be used by the person with the ring to kill the boss.

"Hey Sinon, I'm gonna need to do that 3 more times so just wait there." I yelled to Sinon before getting in position again. The golem charged, the pillar collapsed, I phased through, the golem lost another quarter of the its hp.

I got into position for a 3rd time. The golem charged, the pillar collapsed, I phased through, the golem lost another quarter of the its hp.

I got into position for a 4th time. The golem charged, the pillar collapsed, I phased through, and the golem chattered. A banner hung in the air.

 **Congratulations!**

I looked at the 4th pile and saw that an item was laying on the top, probably the [Last Attack Bonus] since neither me nor Sinon did any damage to it. I picked it up and saw that it was [Charm of Stone] _**'Charm of Stone; This item reduces speed for greatly increased defense and knockback resistance, also increases strength stat**_ ** _slightly, lastly, standing still increases the effect; Upgrading increases defense and knockback resistance, but does not change the speed debuff or increase strength buff'_**

"The [Last Attack Bonus] will be good for Horum, it increases defense a lot plus slightly strength at the cost of speed. Also when standing still you get a greater bonus then when moving" I said.

"Wow, that sounds like a good item for someone doesn't need to move much. Though he is more of a damage dealer so we might want to sell it to a tank instead, but what is for certain is that the items in this dungeon, especially that ring of yours, are WAY more powerful then stuff on this floor should be." Sinon answered.

"I agree with that. Anyway, why is there a pillar of light, don't those only appear from floor bosses? And if that was the floor boss then that doesn't make sense." I said.

"Let's check it out? The game is pretty fair so that shouldn't be a trap. And this is an anti-crystal area and there are no doors so we don't have much choice." Sinon said.

"Okay let's go." I said. We held hands and stepped through the pillar and... appeared at the top of the mountain.

"Well I guess it was just a way out incase the ceiling blocked the door like it did for us?" said Sinon.

"Probably. Well that was a lot more fun, dangerous, and rewarding then excepted." I answered.

"Certainly, sucks that we didn't get anything for Leafa though." Sinon said.

I looked up and saw that it was dark so I checked the time and saw that it was already 6:12pm. We should probably hurry back before the start to worry.

"Wow, it is already 6, I didn't realize it has been that long, let's hurry back before they start getting worried." Sinon said, voicing my thoughts.

Suddenly I realized something, we spent all day, alone, having fun, and got Sinon new jewelry, so it is kinda like a date, but we were in a dungeon so we had a dungeon date.

"Hey Sinon, I just thought of something. We spent all day, with just the two of us, having fun, and got you some new jewelry, isn't that sorta the stuff people do on dates?" I said.

Sinon tried to stutter something out then decided on "How was this having fun?"

"Oh come on, you were having fun." I said.

"Whatever. Let's just go back." she pouted.

* * *

 **End of chapter, they finally go on a date... sorta... a dungeon date. Hehe, I was gonna make it a normal date, but I decided that they needed to be closer first, it was too soon, and that I had no idea how to write that, so I did this instead.**

 **Please give me some ideas for what Leafa could get along the lines of these items that they got, your opinion on Kirito's [Ring of Shadow Phase] and what you think about the [Charm of Stone].**

 **Please leave helpful reviews and tell me what you think about this chapter, and if you are going to keep reading this story.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	10. Chapter 10: Dungeon Night

SAO: The Rangers Black And Blue

 **Author's notes, yay, the part of a fan fiction that is the most fun to read, totally...**

 **Also 10 Chapters! Yay!**

 **Also Kirito's ring has now been limited to 5 uses per hour, because other wise it is too powerful, going up to ten uses in the hour once you get it to max upgrades, because it functions as if you had two rings then effectively.**

 **I was going to write something else and just start with this, but I got a chapters length before I could get to it, I might start making longer chapters, and this shouldn't effect the number of chapters either because I will only make them longer when I have the ideas for it, I won't force myself too.**

Chapter 10: Dungeon Night

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, November 22nd, 12:05pm)**

Today we were planning on going to scout out the boss dungeon. Due to our speed at taking out the mobs and rather high movement speed, because we were all fairly light armor players, even Horum, who had a giant sword didn't use all the much armor, so while he was slower then the rest of us, he was faster then a lot of player, we were able to search the labyrinths quickly, maybe it was just luck, or maybe the labyrinth gave the first people an advantage and helped them. Whatever it was, we seemed to be able to go through labyrinths in a matter of hours or maybe a couple days.

Currently she was in here room, reading a book, she wasn't hungry so she hadn't felt the need to leave, it was annoying that the only things to do were to talk to people, read, craft something, or fight. She had considered picking up a smithing skill as a pass time, it would be useful and save them a lot of money, but it takes a lot of money and time that she didn't feel like wasting to level it up, so instead she wasted her time reading while waiting for her grinding partner to come back from his usual early morning grind, which seemed to be more of an afternoon grind by now, did he spend ALL his time grinding? Probably did.

The door opened and Kirito walked in "Hey Sinon." he said.

"Kirito, where have you been, I was waiting for you to go grinding." I said.

"Grinding, and why didn't you take Leafa or Horum, or both for that matter." he said.

"Gahh! You know that you are a better grinding partner then either of them are. And anyway, I have no idea where they even are. I think they are in town shopping because they are less known then the two of us."

"Okay, okay, let's go then." he answered.

I got up and equipped my combat gear, along with my bow. "Let's go start mapping out the dungeon, it is one of the best places to grind anyway." I said.

"Okay." he answered before heading out the door, I followed him out and we went out of the house.

"If the dungeon is in the same place as the beta test like the first one then it would be on the opposite side of this giant mountain, near the edge of the castle. Let's go around, not over." he said and I nodded.

"Okay, sounds good." I said.

We started walking in the direction of the mountain, for the second time now, well third for Kirito, most of the monsters on the way were super-sized bulls, they had quite a bit of hp but were basically just a buffed version of the boars on floor one, which mean't that killing them was as easy as dodging to the side and putting your sword, or in my case, dagger to the side when they charge. Despite being easy to kill they still gave a good amount of exp, so the only thing keeping them being great for grinding was their low spawn rate.

It took us about 30 minutes to get around the mountain and when we did the dungeon was in view. At the entrance of the dungeon stood a ruin with a... field boss in it?

"Why is there a field boss guarding the dungeon?" I asked.

"I don't know, it is usually just a bunch of whatever is inside in the beta test, field bosses showed up during events and in the field in certain areas." he said. So mister perfect memory thought the same thing I did.

"Well, let's go see its strength, judging by the fact that it is a giant cow it should be a charging type enemy. This means that with my ring I should be able to fight it fairly safely, we can escape if I use up all the charges on the ring." he said after a little bit of time.

"I don't mind, but you better not get yourself killed." I said, Kirito just nodded before starting to run down the hill, he drew both his swords, this was no time to be messing around, and there was no one around anyway so it isn't like anyone would see.

The moment he got in range of the giant cow, its name appeared for both of us, as party members, and it was [Bullbous Bow], it had two health bars.

The boss charged at him, attempting to run him over, he jumped to the side and the boss rammed straight into the wall, which appears to be an immortal object, stunning the boss slightly. Kirito didn't miss the opening as he ran forward, unleashing a non-sword-skill combo that he created onto the boss, it used a lot of spinning around to rest your balance, as he would slowly get unbalanced, this allowed his special combo to go on practically as long as the enemy allowed it, and because it included a relentless barrage of power blows and such, it made it hard to break out. For a normal enemy that is. The boss on the other hand was much more resistant to stun locks and broke out of the combo practically as soon as the time from its stun caused by running into the wall ran out.

But in that relatively short time, the boss had taken about 20% of its first bar in damage, in just one combo Kirito had taken down a tenth of the boss's HP. So all I needed to do was create some openings.

I took and shot an arrow the boss's eye as it got ready to charge, and to my surprise the arrow caused a small amount of freeze, I guess my bow regained some of its former abilities, but there wasn't enough ice for it to make much difference in a leg or something, but in the eye it meant that the boss was practically blind in that eye permanently. Its charge went wild and it got stunned again.

* * *

 **(1:18pm)**

We had been battling the boss for around 40 minutes and it was almost dead. Had only had to use his ring once, which meant that even without it we would probably have managed, but it did speed things up because when the boss was certain it would hit him it sped up, charging even faster and causing it to get stunned for longer and even take some damage from the impact into the immortal ruins. Currently the boss's sight was gone and it had to use only sound to locate which direction to charge to get Kirito. I think I mentioned before but Kirito is naturally very quite, causing the boss some problems with locating him, making things easy on him.

I heard a sound like glass shattering as the field boss shattered and turned into a bright light, where a banner hung in the air.

 **Congratulations**

I ran down from the hill where I was standing to Kirito and found him surrounded with a golden light

 **Congratulations on Reaching Level 20**

was visible in the light, wait TWENTY? When did he get that high, he was 18 yesterday, before all that dungeon stuff, then he might have leveled up after we killed that golem, bosses do give a lot of exp. Plus the exp from the grinding he does alone and then from this boss. I guess it kinda makes sense but still, I was at level 17, as of this field boss almost 18, and I was almost certainly one of the strongest players. I decided to congratulate and ask him at the same time.

"Congrats Kirito, but when did you get that high?" I asked.

"Yesterday's golem made me almost 19, then I leveled up and got some exp on top of that there was this field boss and that just barely leveled me up." he answered.

"Looks like my sword can now burn a little now, and it seems your bow regained some of its freezing ability, the reason it was such a good bow." he said and lit his sword with black flames to demonstrate.

"Well, let's go in and start clearing the dungeon." he said and walked into the now open boss dungeon.

* * *

 **(November 23rd, 1:03am)**

We may have stayed a 'little' late in the dungeon, we forgot all about the outside and time flew, no windows makes it easy to forget the time, anyway we had just reached the half way point, and unlike in the beta and the first floor, there was a teleporter and a boss door that signified a mini-boss or mid-boss, though this would be the first time I had seen a boss dungeon with a mid-boss, it was probably a mid-boss because it was the only way to go and it was on the tenth floor, smack in the middle of the dungeon.

"Um, Sinon, I don't feel up to fighting a boss right now." said Kirito, who through a combination of pure skill and over powered items hadn't taken a single point of damage yet. Simply put, he didn't get 5 times in one hour at any point. Despite the fact that there was no visible stat that showed how tired he was, the combination of the games stamina system and mental fatigue, which is there in any world, regardless of physical fatigue, made him practically unable to fight, so the checkpoint was very welcome, and the boss was a complete road block.

"I don't either." I answered, I hadn't been holding forward for 12 hours straight so I was far less tired, but the concentration of shooting a bow, and the 'occasional' dodging I had to do, because Kirito 'accidentally' let some mobs through, though I guess it is kinda of fair that I do some of the work, all put together made me pretty tired anyway.

We weren't hungry because the way this game works, if you forget to be hungry you won't be hungry, and losing track of time conveniently included your instincts forgetting to tell you you were hungry.

"Let's go home, we have the map data and this is a checkpoint, and I think that if I keep fighting I will use all 5 charges within half an hour easily." he said, I just nodded before grabbing his hand and helping him up and over to the teleporter, I hadn't even noticed him sitting down though.

"Teleport Urbus!" I said as clearly as I could muster, though it wasn't necessary, the system would figure it out even if I muttered it. We were surrounded by bus light and when it cleared we were standing on the [Teleport Gate] in the center of Urbus, thankfully there were no people around to see us in our pathetic state and we slowly wandered out way home, so slowly that a walk that normally took around 5 minutes took about 15.

We walked into the house, to our room, and collapsed on out beds, too lazy to press the few buttons required to remove the combat gear. At least in my case it took seconds for me to fall into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

 **(12:03pm)**

I woke up and looked at the time, and was not surprised to find that it was already noon. I looked over and saw Kirito still asleep, given that he usually woke up first I think this was the first time I ever saw him asleep. He looked so peaceful, and kinda cute.

Surprisingly he woke up within the minutes that I was laying in bed to lazy to get up. That's very unlikely, that we would both wake up from a long sleep within a few minutes of each other.

"Morning Kirito." I said lazily.

"Morning." was all I got for an answer, he stood up and unequipped his combat gear—which I realized I would probably still be wearing as well—and was left in his casual wear.

"I vote for not fighting this afternoon, maybe in the evening." he said.

"I am all for it." I answered, still not fully awake, I stood up and removed my combat gear.

"Let's go down and tell Leafa and Horum that we are okay, they probably didn't know we came home and wouldn't check in our room so they will be worried." he said.

"Anyway, I am going down, I can tell them that you want to sleep more if you want... sleepyhead." I think he added the last part for good measure to insure that I would come.

"Coming, coming, I'll be down in 5-10 minutes." I said.

"Right..." he muttered before leaving.

* * *

 **(Kirito, 12:11pm)**

Geez, yesterday was so tiring, brain, remind me to never do that again.

I went down the stairs and was greeted by the smell of breakfast, which Leafa cooked much earlier normally so they must have stayed up late.

"Good morning!" I called.

""Good morning Kirito!"" said Leafa and Horum at the same time.

I came down the stairs and saw Horum _**trying**_ to cook, emphasis on trying. "What is going on?" I asked.

"Well, we didn't want to go out incase you two came back—we forgot to check your room—and so because we were bored, Horum asked me to teach him how to cook, this is our 10th attempt now or something, I think he is the exact opposite of a natural at cooking."

"Oh come on, this time is turning out pretty good." Horum half-whined.

"We are making eggs, those are really easy. We tried pancakes, but he couldn't even do that!" complained Leafa.

"By the way, where were you guys last night, we stayed up till like 11 for you guys to come home but you guys didn't so we went to bed." she asked in a now curious tone.

"Well, we left at around midday, then we fought a field boss guarding the boss dungeon and killed it. Then we went into the boss dungeon and lost track of time and didn't notice how tired we were, we ended up going at it for 12 hours straight, we only realized to stop because when we reached half way there is a mid-boss blocking that way and a teleporter we can use as a checkpoint, once we noticed it took us like 15 minutes from the teleporter in Urbus to here, that is like a 3rd of the normal pace, then we fell asleep not removing our combat gear and woke up 10 minutes ago." I explained.

"Oh... YOU GUYS ARE CRAZY!" Leafa screamed the second part.

"Sorry, we lost track of time." I said slightly raising my hands in mock-surrender.

"Geez, you guys could stand to be a bit more quite you know." a sleepy looking Sinon said from the stairs.

"Is breakfast ready?" she asked.

"No, because Leafa was trying to teach Horum how to cook." I told her. She surveyed the kitchen and then held down a laugh.

"What attempt number is this? Number 10?" she asked.

And Horum answered slightly ashamed and quietly "Yes."

"I can do it instead, if you want Leafa, I live alone so I can cook okay." she offered.

"No thanks, and anyway, he seems to have gotten the hang of eggs." Leafa answered.

* * *

 **(November 24th, 12:02pm)**

Sinon and I were meeting with Diabel to discuss setting up a meeting regarding the mid-boss, we had scouted it in the evening yesterday and found that it was the second floor boss from the beta test, though with only 3/4 the hp and probably some other nerfs.

"We would like to hold the meeting within the next few days so we can get through this game quicker, but not today, we are still tired from the day before, plus part of yesterday we spent in that dungeon, 13 hours straight of fighting, including a field boss. It seems that things are getting harder, there was an extra field boss and mid-boss compared to the beta to progress to the next floor, at least." I said to him, he listened to this carefully.

After a while he said "I'll see what I can do to arrange the meeting, I was at the second boss raid during the beta so I should know just as much as you two about this boss so it should be fine. Well, see you guys in a few days, I'll send you a message once I get the meeting set up.

* * *

 **(1:14pm)**

"I wanna go to the beach of something, this boring, Leafa won't let us go out and fight, but there nothing else to do in this game!" Sinon whined, for nth time this past hour. After I told our little story Leafa, she didn't want us to go out until the day after tomorrow, that was yesterday, which means we are stuck doing nothing until tomorrow.

"Sorry, but there aren't any beaches of significant size on the first two floors, or the 3rd one for that matter. Though if I remember correctly the 4th one does, so just wait two more floors and you can go to the beach." I told her.

"Let's go and see if there are any decent player smiths yet." Sinon said. It was a good idea, and if we could find one with good luck with upgrades. There was a hidden luck stat in the game and ironically, how 'lucky' you were was determined purely by luck, as in the stat was just a random number, though if you consistently get lucky despite having a low luck stat it will slowly raise, this mostly happens when you are around people with high luck stats, so it effectively is that peoples luck rubs off on their surroundings, the converse is also true, but to a lesser extent. Also if people do nothing they slowly get less lucky, this is to prevent inflation of luck because positive effects of being around lucky people are larger then the negative effects of being around unlucky people. In short it was complicated.

Few people knew all this, in fact other then Kayaba-san and Sinon, I was probably the only one.

"Okay, that seems like a good idea, maybe we can find a lucky one." I said and we head into town.

We saw a pink-haired girl in a stall with a sign saying "Lisbeth's Blacksmith Shop", we walked over and I had her upgrade my [Anneal Katana], which at this point had an incredibly low success rate, she got all the upgrades, which would correspond to about a 1% chance by the stated, pre-luck stat rates.

I whispered to Sinon "I think this is our lucky smith." she just nodded.

* * *

 **Sorry if this chapter ended kinda abruptly, but I kinda couldn't think of anything to write that wouldn't take at least a few more thousand words so I ended here, sorry.**

 **Please tell me if you think the story is getting more boring and why and I will try to fix it.**

 **Also please leave reviews!**

 **Anyway, cya, me oouuttiiyy!**


	11. Chapter 11: Beaters

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **This chapter will probably involve Leafa and Horum splitting off from Sinon and Kirito due to circumstances, don't worry they don't fight, maybe the name of the chapter gives it away though.**

 **There are starting to be less people reading this story. v_v**

 **Did I do something wrong?**

 **Well, even if no body reads this, I am going to keep writing because I am just writing this for fun, but I might not keep a schedule anymore unless at least one person reviews that they want me to keep a schedule, this isn't a threat, just if nobody reads it, then I am gonna write it whenever I have something I want to write.**

 **Anyway, enough complaining.**

Chapter 11: Beaters

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, November 25th, 12:53pm)**

Today was the meeting for fighting the mid-boss in the second labyrinth. Horum, Leafa, Kirito, and I were all there, because we would all be at the fight, Kirito and I had suggested that Leafa and Horum not come, but we had failed to get them to stay behind so they were here as well. Diabel was the meeting's host again, and the meeting was at 1:00pm, so we had a few minutes to kill. We had already provided Diabel with the map data so we didn't have to do anything special.

The next few minutes were spent chatting and then Diabel came on stage.

"Thank you all for coming to this meeting." he said loudly and everyone cheered.

"This meeting is being held to discuss beating a mid-boss for the second boss dungeon. It appears that the mid-boss is a somewhat weakened version of the 2nd floor boss during the beta-test. Its name is [Baran the General Taurus], it has a giant hammer and will slam it into the ground or at people, you want to avoid being near it when it hits the ground because of an ability called [Numbing Impact], which will stun all players in the vicinity of the impact, the area is denoted by golden sparks and it will stun you for 3 seconds, being hit again before it wears off will cause paralysis. It will also have charge type attacks typical of taurus type enemies, when it charges it will charge the length of its room and run into the wall, when this happens it will be stunned for a second at most, while charging its hooves will create shockwaves that will knock people off their feet and deal damage, the best way to hide from this is to hide behind the numerous pillars, it is also possible to jump over the shockwave at the exact right moment." he said.

"The boss has 3 hp bars and is weakest on the head and neck, hitting him in the borns with powerful [Blunt Impact] type attacks will unbalance him and have a high chance of interrupting his attacks. If you have a bladed weapon the ideal place to strike is the neck, though both head and neck are difficult to reach due to his 4 meter height."

"The boss will only start charging when its last hp bar is down by 50%. So until then we need tanks to take the hammer blows and then everyone to retreat when he is going to his his [Numbing Impact]."

"It will be visible that he is going to use [Numbing Impact] by him hoisting his hammer high above his shoulder and holding it there for 1-2 seconds, then it will glow a golden light and slam down." he finally finished.

"That should be all, but stay alert because [Illfang the Kobold Lord] changed from the beta so this boss might have as well." he added.

"I will send everyone the map data to everyone here to reach him but please do not go until the whole raid group goes." he said, opening his [Area Message Menu] which allows you to send a message to everyone in a certain distance of you, though the distance and area can be controlled, but must stay within the max which is a 20m circle around the sender.

"Now everyone form up into parties, preferably the same ones as the 1st boss fight if you were there, because you will already know how to fight alongside those people well. Everyone else, form up parties and fill parties whose members didn't show up." he said and received some acknowledgment before everyone started grouping up. There ended up being 7 full parties plus our's, though some of the 7 parties were different from the first boss fight.

"Is meeting me here in 2 hours to leave for the boss okay with everybody here, or do some of you need longer to get ready, make sure you have a [Teleport Crystal] each as well as preferably some [Healing Crystals], healing potions are an obvious must." he said.

"If everybody is okay with that time then meeting adjourned, see you all in two hours!" he finally said and everybody started to head off to stock up on supplies, we were already ready so we stayed around.

"Diabel, did you scout the boss?" I asked him after walking over.

"Yes, I did, from all the info I got it seems to be a slightly weakened version with no major changes." he answered.

* * *

 **(3:00pm)**

It was 3 o-clock and everyone was here so after Diabel confirmed that everyone had their crystals and potions, Diabel led the way through the dungeon until we reached the mid-boss, our party was right behind his so we were able to correct him when he mis-read the map and turned the wrong way.

It took us a total of about 2 hours to reach the mid-boss from Urbus, so everyone took a break, which lasted around 15 minutes, so it was 5:13pm when we finally entered the boss room, it was just as we remembered it, a long relatively thin, room, with the boss sitting on a throne-like chair at the end, despite not being a king.

"Commence attack!" yelled Diabel, being one of the tanks, he was in the front group, and so one of the people who made first contact with the boss.

Kirito, Leafa, and Horum all ran in with the attackers, while I threw picks at the horns and eyes of the boss, stunning and blinding it. I wouldn't bring out my bow yet, not until it was needed, because then all the beta testers would recognize Kirito and her and start asking them all sorts of stuff.

Kirito was releasing a relentless barrage of attacks on the boss, doing a lot of damage despite not using two swords. Horum had activated his charm of stone, which took about 30 seconds to activate and deactivate, and was striking the boss with powerful blows which slightly stunned the boss because they were effectively much more blunt then they technically were because of the boss's armor.

Leafa was also attacking the boss and her strikes were well aimed like her brother's and sought out kinks and weak points in the armor, allowing her to deal a sizable amount of damage.

Everyone else with lighter weapons like daggers and short swords, who were less trained and accurate with their attacks had to use leap abilities to reach lightly armored torso of the boss to deal any damage, leading their damage output to be quite small, because they didn't have enough agility to jump up high enough to land even a decent blow without using their [Sword Skills] which had cooldowns.

Kirito had tried jumping up to do more damage but found that striking weak spots in the armor was a better idea.

In about 30 minutes the boss's hp dropped down to half the last bar, which meant that it started charging. Everyone hid in the alcoves as he charged and he slammed into the wall, but instead of the expected second long stun, he just turned and started charging the other way almost instantly.

Some people (Kibaou's group) didn't realize and charged in anyway. He ran over them and stunned them. Kirito ran out to help them but before he could reach them the boss stomped down on one of the people, killing them. It was about to stomp down on another but Kirito used a [Martial Arts] skill with high knockback on its foot and knocked it off course. The boss then resumed charging and while it was on the other end of the room people dragged them into alcoves.

He would repeat this process 5-6 times before he would finally stop. This left very little time to attack and it took about 15 minutes to get his hp down to the red, where he started charging faster and for longer, which meant people couldn't hit him at all.

"I have a crazy idea, but thanks to my little item, it should be fairly safe." Kirito whispered to me, before running out.

I watched as he ran straight towards the charging boss. He jumped up towards it and it tried to slam him with his hammer in midair. It was impossible to dodge and Leafa and Horum watched in horror as the hammer was about to slam into Kirito when... it passed right through him, surprising everyone here but me.

Kirito then landed on the boss's shoulder and proceeded to ram his sword into its throat. Its HP drained very quickly and the boss shattered before it could reach the end of the room. Kirito fell to the ground and rolled, before sheaving his sword on his back.

People erupted in cheers, thankfully forgetting about the little phasing stunt he pulled. All the people except 2, Leafa and Horum.

"Kirito, why did the boss's hammer pass right through you?" asked Leafa and Horum nodded to the question.

"This ring" he said showing him the ring on his hand.

"It has 5 charges, there is a minimum 10 second delay between charges being used, and each charge recharges in one hour after use." he continued.

"We got it in the same place we got the [Charm of Stone] for Horum, it is called the [Ring of Shadow Phase]." he finished.

Then right after he finished explaining someone yelled "STOP CHEERING!" it was Kibaou, of course.

"Why did you let him die? Why did you let Korban die?" he asked loudly.

"Let him die?" Kirito confirmed quietly.

"You heard what I said, if you hadn't given us wrong information, he would have lived." Kibaou continued.

"I know why he didn't tell us! Because like all the other beta testers, he is selfish, he didn't tell us because he wanted all the people to die right before the boss did so he could get the [Last Attack Bonus]!" yelled someone else in Kibaou's group, though he had moved into the crowd it seem like a random person.

"Come on, I know there are other betas here, show yourselves!" said another one of the people.

Kirito whispered to me "Sinon this is bad, I have an idea but it will probably make every person in the game with few exceptions hate me, but they won't hate the betas."

I whispered back "I'm with you, and don't even try to stop me."

"Okay" he whispered back.

Then he started laughing maniacally and said loudly "So your calling us beta testers? Please, don't compare us to those noobs." At this point I had also stood up.

"Most of the beta testers were so green they didn't even know how to level up, but us? We are on a whole different level! During the beta test, of the 19 bosses that were killed, we duo killed 5 of them!" he finished.

"If that's the case then you're worse then beta testers, you're cheaters!" someone said.

"They're beta testers and cheaters! They're beaters!" someone else said.

"Beaters? Yeah I like that. Just from now on don't confuse us with those noobs known as 'beta testers'!" Kirito finished before turning away and leaving into the pillar of light, I followed him, everyone else was to shocked to move, hopefully they would just hate us instead of the all the beta testers.

In a flash of light we appeared in Zumfut, the main settlement on the 3rd floor, wait what? Wasn't that a mid-boss? Oh whatever, if it was the floor boss all the better. We moved to the side and waited for Leafa and Horum to come through so we could explain to them, of course we also hid so no one else would notice us. Kirito was out with his hiding skill, which he had from his [Cloak of Midnight], while I was just hiding, waiting for him to tell me when. A few minutes after three people came through one and then seconds later the other two. The first one was Diabel, who called out our names, and the other two were Leafa and Horum who also called out our names.

Kirito turned off his hiding skill and I stood up, we went out to meet them.

"Thank you for that." said Diabel, "Though people do not know I am a beta tester, I thank you on behalf of all the beta testers for taking the heat off them. If you ever need anything, I will try to help."

"Okay." answered Kirito.

Then I decided to speak up, "Leafa, Horum, it would be best if you split off from us until people stop hating us so much, otherwise everyone will hate you as well. And we WON'T be taking NO for an answer." I said the last part very sternly "Got it?" I finished somewhat gentler.

""Okay, but be carful you two."" they both said in perfect sink.

After that Kirito and I walked off to go grinding.

* * *

 **(10:03pm)**

"Let's get our stuff from that house and get an inn on the 3rd floor, we are going to want to stay the highest level players, which means we need to grind a lot so we won't spend much time inside our lodging anyway." I said, we were about ready to get a break and now would be a good time to do it.

"Okay, let's go do it right now." answered Kirito.

We were currently sitting on a kill waiting for all the monsters in the area to respawn. It was cold and at some point I grabbed Kirito's hand without noticing, when I noticed I think I blushed a lot, but Kirito didn't seem to mind, he seemed to be lost in thought.

Finally he stood up and pulled me to my feet. "Okay, let's go." he said, turning towards town and pulling me with him. I ran to catch up so he wasn't dragging me along and we walked at a pleasant pace side by side, enjoying the night air. How well the Nerve Gear worked was amazing!

* * *

 **Sorry shorter chapter, for the reasons at the top and because I got what I wanted to put into this chapter into it already, was somewhat out of ideas, wanted to upload it around now, and because I wanted to go back to reading SAO.**

 **Please, PLEASE, leave a review telling me whether you want me to keep updating at this pace of an approximately 3k word chapter a day, with bonus chapters, I will treat nobody telling me to keep going as a sign that it is okay to slack off and just update whenever.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	12. Chapter 12: Archery and Red Hood

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **New authors notes: DON'T CLOSE THIS just because it is still chapter 12, I added a few thousand words, I will put a marker where the previous part ended so those of you who read the previous part can go straight to the new part.**

Chapter 12: Archery and Red Hood

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, November 26th, 1:01pm)**

Sinon and I were currently searching for the quest for the [Archery] [Extra Skill], because while Sinon already had it, I still needed it and we preferred to stick together.

"Hey, Kirito, wasn't there some sort of elf quest in this forest, where you help one of two elves?" Sinon asked me.

"Yeah, I guess we will do that one if we find it, but we will have to wait till the ninth floor to reap the rewards so it isn't urgent. It is a quest that can be redone after all." I answered.

We had been walking around for about an hour and as expected there weren't many mobs because we weren't in a dungeon or a spawn zone, which were basically field dungeons and sometimes had field bosses, though we hadn't run into any field bosses except the one guarding the second floor dungeon.

After a few more minutes of walking we saw a hunter in the forest. "That's him." I said to Sinon before starting to walk in the direction of the hunter.

I walked up to him and said "That's an interesting weapon, can you teach me how to use one?"

He answered "Sure, I just got enough game for the day so I was starting to head back anyway, follow me and I'll show you."

"Okay." I said "Come on Sinon."

"Coming!" Sinon yelled, she had apparently been looking at some plant.

In about 10 minutes we arrived at the hunter's cabin, when we did he said "Here, use this bow, if you can hit those targets 8/10 times you can keep the bow, I also have an old bow I can't really use that I can sell to you if you complete this challenge."

"Okay." I said, before taking aim at the target. How does Sinon do it? Steady, slow your heart rate, hold your breath, aim, release. I went through the steps Sinon told me and fired the arrow. The arrow flew and slammed smack into the middle of the target. I repeated the process 9 more times, I only hit the bullseye one more time, but I hit the target all 10 times.

"Congrats, you are a lot better then the last time we tried this quest." said Sinon.

"I walked over to the hunter and he said "Congratulations, this is the bow you can buy, it is a short bow, which allows for firing quickly in combat situations, but it doesn't have to much range, which makes it no good for hunting, so I am willing to sell it to you for the small price of a 1500 col."

I bought the bow and a few menus popped up. _**'Acquired Extra Skill: Archery Skill'**_ was the first message that popped up, the second was _**'Quest Reward: Wooden Bow: This is the most basic bow; [Power]: 10 , [Draw Ease]: 0, [Durability]: 1000'**_ and the final was _**'Item purchased; Price: 1500; Blackwood Short-bow: This is a lighter, weaker, and faster firing type of bow, it is better in situations where you find yourself relatively close to the enemy, such as when you mostly use a sword, but just retreated somewhat; [Power]: 7, [Draw Ease]: 5 (Every 10 points halves the**_ ** _difficulty, so 5 points divides it by the square root of 2, approximately 1.41), [Durability]: 1500'_**

Sinon peaked over and muttered "Of course it would be black."

"I like black, what's wrong with black?" I asked.

"Nothing, in normal quantities. The quantities you wear it in, it is almost as if you would burn if you wore some other clothing, which is funny because black absorbs the most heat, thus meaning that you are more likely to burn IF you wear black clothing." she answered.

"Whatever." I said, equipping the bow, though the way it was equipped it wouldn't be difficult to pull out, but it was still hidden by my cloak, so unless you knew what you were looking for, you wouldn't notice it.

"Let's go try it out." I said grabbing Sinon's hand and pulling her along to the place where we saw the largest concentration of mobs. I only in a moment realized how it wasn't normal to randomly hold hands with people who aren't your boyfriend/girlfriend, then I awkwardly let go and blushed, I am guessing that she only realized at that time as well because she also blushed at the same time and muttered "Geez."

We found a decent sized group of monsters fairly close to town—a bunch of oversized wasps—and were about to engage them with our bows, but saw they were swarming towards something, probably a player, so instead of using our bows, I rushed in to help them and Sinon started picking them off with her throwing picks.

I ran over just in time to see a rapier user slay one using a very well done [Linear] a fairly low level, but useful [Rapier] type weapon skill, it was a charge type one so it was useful, anyway back to the point, I saw the person slay a wasp and then fall unconscious, which was bad in a giant swarm of wasps.

I drew my second sword and charged forward, slaying all the wasps. The wasps—formally called [Wind Wasps]—had very low hp and could be killed with a single one of my strikes, the reason they were dangerous is because they came in swarms—making them fairly good for exp—and if even one got through it would poison you with a poison the slows your movements and had a small DOT ([Damage Over Time]) effect, this meant that as a solo player, if you got stung once, you were likely to get stung again, further slowing your movements, further increasing your chance of getting stung. Then you will collapse unable to move and they will keep injecting poison into you, increasing the effect further and further until you die. Thankfully this person was not stung yet so I wasn't on a time limit.

"Hey Sinon! Mind giving me some cover fire? I'll cover the person to make sure they don't get hit!" I yelled at Sinon, implying that she should use her bursting rain ability, if all the [Wind Wasps] turn into ice wasps, it would make things much easier, of course at her level her bow's chance to freeze was very low, but still if they go after her, I won't be surrounded and can get them from behind.

Instead of answering with words Sinon drew back her bow and unleashed a rain of arrows on the general area. I blocked the few arrows that went in the direction of the unconscious person and myself.

All the wasps that had been hit—which was all of them—turned their agro towards Sinon, which meant that I could run up behind them and slay them, and because I killed them in one hit it took a little bit for the front ones to realize that they were being attacked from behind, and by that time, there were too few of them and I finished them all off.

We walked over to the person and I said "What should we do with them? Should we take them back to the city or wait for them to wake up. I think if we walked into the city while carrying an unconscious person, with our reputations at the moment people would assume we are the reason they are unconscious. We should probably wait for them to wake up. They don't have any status effects so it shouldn't take long."

"Fine by me." said Sinon. The wasps were decent for grinding though [Elder Nepents], [Treant Saplings], and [Elder Treants] all were better if you found the right places.

* * *

 **New part starts here.**

* * *

I picked up the person, still not sure if they were a boy or girl and carried them onto a rock, while it wouldn't guard them from wasps, it would still protect them from all the other things and they would easily be able to see if wasps were going to attack them.

"Let's grind a bit while we wait for them to wake up?" I asked Sinon who just nodded and threw and throwing pick at swarm of wasps, nailing the middle on in the face. The whole swarm came flying and I did a spin attack in the middle clearing out some space so I could attack any that came my way. These wasps were on hit kill with basically any hit, so it was easy to kill them in any amount, and if I got hit Sinon could draw them off and outrun them long enough that I could use an anti-poison. There were also anti-posion potions that made you invulnerable to poison below some level (depends on the level of the potion) for some amount of time.

After about 30 minutes of grinding.

"Kirito come over here, they're waking up!" yelled Sinon calling me over, I finished the swarm of wasps I was fighting and ran over using my high agility stat.

In a few seconds the person on the ground groaned a bit, sat up, and rubbed their eyes. Then they saw us and jumped up and drew their rapier.

"Who are you? What do you want?" they asked in a feminine voice.

"Relax, you have been asleep somewhere between an half an hour and an hour, if we wanted to hurt/rob you we would have already done it. Anyway, you collapsed in the middle of a swarm of wasps, we killed them and put you on this rock while we were grinding." I said

"What's your name?" asked Sinon.

"What's your's, isn't it polite to say your name before asking for someone else's." was the ungrateful rude girl's answer.

"I'm Kirito, this is Sinon." I said, pointing to Sinon while I said the last part.

"So what's your's?" Sinon asked.

"Asuna. Pleased to meet you and thank you for saving my life, a week ago I wouldn't have cared, but now that the first and second boss were killed within a week of each other I see this game is possible." she answered.

"Wait, Sinon, Kirito? Aren't you two supposed to be those 'beaters'?" she asked. Ouch.

"What about it?" answered Sinon.

"Nothing, just you are nothing like Kibaou describes." she said.

"His teammate died because he was stupid and blind and he blames us for it just because we saved him and the rest of his teammates but not one of his teammates, so 'obviously' it's our fault." said Sinon.

"That's kinda of unfair." said the now-named Asuna.

"Life ain't fair." I said.

"Isn't that what you say to the person that something isn't fair towards? Not when you are the person that something isn't fair towards?" asked Asuna.

"Whatever." I said "It doesn't change the fact that it's true, and this is a death trap, so even less so. If he can come up with a reason to make us give him our stuff and increase his chance of survival, he'll do it. Even though in this case, it would decrease his chance of survival along with everyone else's, because unlike him, we can actually do something, while in his case if he stayed in a safe zone and did something the whole clearing groups survival chance would go up, including his."

"Kirito, you're talking for to long again." said Sinon.

"Sorry." I said.

"Asuna is looking at us as if we were some rare exotic animals..." I pointed out to Sinon, at which Asuna blushed and hid her face deeper in her cloak and looked away.

"Geez, it isn't like we are all that unique, just annoyed and skilled, a pretty bad combination. Good for Kibaou we would rather hunt mobs then walking trash." Sinon said.

"Well put." I said.

"Do you two ever stop talking?" Asuna asked.

""Only when it is just the two of us."" Sinon and I half-jokingly said at the exact same time.

"Geez..." said Asuna.

"By the way, why did you pass out." I asked, remembering why we were talking to this girl in the first place.

"I lost track of time and was grinding all night plus more. I ended up very exhausted and was going to go back to town but this giant swarm of wasps showed up."

"Oh, by the way, you use [Linear] to much, it is ridiculous overkill on these wasps, and it requires you to focus a lot, exhausting yourself unnecessarily." I told her.

"You should probably go back to town and get an inn and rest, it will do someone who passed out in the middle of fighting mobs some good." Sinon said.

"Why were you fighting these mobs anyway?" I asked.

"I was trying to get exp and join the clearing group, I also needed to kill a bunch of them for a quest. By the way, I got a rapier called [Wind Fleuret], but I don't have an appraisal skill and I don't know if it is any good. Do either of you know?" she asked.

"You are very lucky, it is an extremely rare drop, and it is probably the best rapier for the first 5 floors that I know of, and even not upgraded it is the best rapier on the first 3 floors, so whatever rapier you have, you should use it instead." said Sinon and I nodded.

"Okay, thanks." said the rapier-user and head off in the direction of town.

"Hey Sinon? Do you want to go look for some better stuff to grind? Or just go back to town and eat?" I asked.

"I would rather grind some more, it is practically the only reasonable thing to do anyway, and I want to find that elf quest. Well, let's go!" Sinon answered.

After about an hour of wandering we found the 2 elves fighting, we helped the night elf, as opposed to the forest elf, and started the [Elf War] campaign on the night elf side, the [Jade Key] is the first quest and in it the player must deliver the key the two elves were fighting over to either the night elves' or the forest elves' base. We decided that we would do the rest of the quests in the campaign tomorrow and went home to bed.

* * *

 **Real end this time. Sorry anti-climactic ending but I ran out of time to write, next chapter will hopefully be normal.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	13. Chapter 13: Elves and Birds and Party

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **I think I might be back on schedule, YAY!**

 **If any of you like Asuna or awkward moments.**

 **Also chapters, a whole 13 of them.**

 **Also please, someone write a summary for me and post it as a review or message me, if I like it I will use it, if I don't thank you for trying.**

Chapter 13: Elves and Birds and Party

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, December 13th, 12:03pm)**

Sinon and I were on the 9th floor, which was the latest floor, having finished the Elf War campaign quest which was on the 3rd floor, but the reward was on the 9th floor. We were currently looking for the dark elves main village on this floor to get our reward for the quest.

It was currently 4pm and we had been searching for hours, suddenly we ran into a cliff face with a cave.

"That's either it or a dungeon. Let's go check it out?" I said.

"Sure, I was getting bored anyway." said Sinon.

"I think the word we say most is some variation of 'bored' or 'boring'" I said.

"Well that's because when it isn't boring it generally means that we are fighting for our lives or something and not talking." answered Sinon.

"Anyway, cave." I said, walking towards the cliff, there was a thin ledge-like path that led to the small cave entrance so we used that.

Once we walked into the cave we found that it was surprisingly not very dark, either because of our night-vision passive skill, or because of some ambient lighting.

After walking a little while there started to be glowing moss on the walls, whenever there was a split we decided to go the way with more moss.

After about 15 minutes of walking, it opened up into a large cavern with numerous bioluminescent plants and houses, there were guards at the entrance and they said "What are you doing here, surface dwellers."

They were clearly dark elves so I took out my token and said "We helped out some of your comrades a little while back, they gave us this to prove it."

The guard looked at the token and finally after a little bit said "Fine, you may pass."

Sinon and I high-fived gently and went inside, it was beautiful. Once we were a bit in we were greeted by an older elf dressed in finer clothes.

"Those tokens are only made by my brother, if you have those then I will see you well rewarded for assisting him." said the elf-leader.

He pulled out two dark wooden charms. When he gave them to us it said _**'Campaign Quest Complete; Final Reward: [Dark Elf Charm]; This charm signifies that you are allies of the dark elves in all dark elf villages, it is not recommended to let forest elves see these; This charm gives a minor boost to all stats in places not exposed to sunlight, as well as majorly improved night vision and the ability to talk to party members' and own tamed animals, useful for scouting.'**_

"This item is very nice. I think we should endeavor to tame some birds if they will be able to talk to us? They would make great scouts." I said.

"Yes, that does sound nice, also all boss dungeons are not exposed to sunlight so these charms will be useful for fights." Sinon answered.

"Let's try to tame one of the large carnivorous birds that have been bothering us all day, they should not only be able to scout but distract the enemy and fight somewhat." I said, remembering the birds that had been harassing us all day.

"Okay." Sinon answered and on that note we left the cave.

Funny thing is, when we didn't want the stupid birds they were flying at us non-stop, the moment we want them, they are gone, it seriously took 30 minutes for a bird to swoop down at us.

I pulled a drugged piece of meat I had prepared out of my inventory and so did Sinon, the bird saw the meet and immediately went after it, it grabbed Sinon's meat and she let go of it, it started eating it in the air and suddenly... it fell. We ran over to where it fell on the ground and picked it up.

"I think one is enough, I am sick of searching for them. This one will be your's. Let's head to our inn room and wait for it to wake up, then you can feed it and hopefully it will like you." I said.

Sinon nodded and head off in the direction of town, carrying the bird to the inn.

It took us half an hour to get back, so mere minutes after we arrived the bird woke up and Sinon pulled out a piece of meat. It fluttered around a bit, realized it couldn't get out, and then cautiously took the meat, it ate it and Sinon gave it more until a window popped up in front of her and the birds unintelligible cries turned into "Give me meat! Give me meat!"

Sinon's answer was simple "No."

The [Carnoton]—which was apparently the name of the bird—gave a dejected look and shut up.

Sinon named the bird Carnie, I don't know, clearly she hadn't gotten more creative after her pet [Colf].

Sinon said "Sit on my shoulder quietly." to the bird, and the bird obeyed.

I whistled slightly, this was a must have for someone with a pet.

"Send your bird to look for the boss dungeon maybe?" I asked Sinon.

Sinon nodded and walked outside and said "Go look for a giant pillar going from the ground high into the sky Carnie!" to her bird. The reason Sinon had done this was because starting from the 5th floor, the locations of the boss dungeons had changed from the beta, making it difficult to find them.

Carnie croaked "Okay." and flew off.

"If it finds the dungeon, then it will probably already be the most valuable pet in the game thus far." I said to Sinon, who nodded.

"Let's go find Asuna, she is one of the few people who doesn't hate us." Sinon said.

"Okay, or we could look for Leafa and Horum." I said, we hadn't seen them in the days since the 8th boss was killed.

"We see them all the time, Asuna isn't a full member of the clearing group—as in she doesn't show up to all the fights—so we don't see her that much, we haven't seen her in almost a week." pleaded Sinon.

"Okay, okay, message her and tell her to meet us at the cafe near the center of [Fordark] (The name of the main city on the 9th floor)." I said to Sinon.

Sinon and sent the message and almost immediately got a reply, I looked over her shoulder and saw _"Why a cafe? Are you two hungry?"_ and Sinon typed back _"Yes."_

The answer we got was _"Okay then, let's meet at the cafe, but don't order any food, I got a better idea."_

I looked at Sinon and we silently agreed to go along with it.

 _"Okay, we'll be waiting."_ Sinon typed back and closed her menu.

We took about 3-5 minutes to arrive at the cafe, about 10 minutes after Asuna showed up.

""Hey Asuna!"" said Sinon and I in perfect sync.

"Hey Sinon, Kirito, you guys are in perfect sync again, just get married already." was Asuna's reply, to which both Sinon and I blushed and turned in opposite directions in perfect sync.

"You're in sync again..." Asuna teased.

I looked Sinon in the eye and we had a silent conversation along the lines of 'You say it.' from me.

And then 'Okay.' from Sinon.

"Whatever." said Sinon.

"I swear, you guys just silently agreed on which one you would say it so that you wouldn't be in sync, telepathy is only for couples." Asuna teased.

""JUST STOP IT! WE KNOW EACH OTHER WELL, OKAY?"" both of us said loudly, in perfect sync.

Asuna laughed slightly but didn't say anything, then said "Okay, anyway, let's go on a nice hill, I know you guys have been wandering around the floor 9 forest a lot, are there any nice places to sit?"

"Su-" I was about to say something but was interrupted when a large black bird landed on Sinon's shoulder and croaked "Found tower, lead there?"

Sinon answered "Later, stay quite for now okay?" pulling a small meat treat out of her inventory and feeding it to the bird.

Asuna was completely surprised "You can talk to animals?" she asked.

"We can both understand and talk to tamed animals of party members, it is an item for a quest, it also gives boosts to night vision, and a small stat boost to everything when out of sunlight." I answered.

"So what did it tell you?" Asuna asked.

"It found the boss dungeon, offered to lead us there." Sinon answered.

"Wow! That's amazing!" Asuna said "Anyway back to the matter of nice places to sit in the forest, got any?"

"Sure do, follow us." I said to Asuna and looked over to Sinon who nodded to confirm that she knew what I was talking about.

I started walking to the north and in about 15 minutes we arrived on a nice hill with no trees over looking the forest.

"This is a perfect place!" said Asuna, taking something out of her inventory a... picnic blanket and picnic basket?

"I made sandwiches!" said Asuna proudly after laying out the blanket and sitting down. We sat down next to each other, Sinon in the middle.

"Here you go." said Asuna, giving us both sandwiches and taking one herself.

We dug into the sandwiches and both said at the same time ""Delicious!""

Asuna just laughed slightly and continued eating her sandwich.

It took the 3 of us about 15 minutes to finish the sandwiches Asuna made and then we sat on the kill watching the forest. Sinon's bird was keeping away all the other birds of its type so we weren't bothered. Being tamed caused it to be much stronger, and able to level up, as well as getting a boost from Sinon's own level.

"Hey guys, that bird of your's found the dungeon right? Can I party with you guys to clear it? Please?" Asuna practically begged.

"What is your level at?" I asked her. My current level was 30, much higher then it was during the beta test thanks to 24/7 play time and focusing on getting my level as high as possible, as well as just taking longer to clear the floors, Sinon's was 27, the level gap was caused my 'Early Morning Grinding'—as Sinon called it, which was at around 8am, not that early.—and also because I constantly take forward—the reason this matters is while exp is distributed among all waking party members, but people who didn't get the kill get a little less, and people not present get a lot less—these two reasons combined created our level gap.

Anyway, Asuna's answer was surprising "24, almost 25." she said, this was way higher then most people, the only people other then her at around that level would probably be Leafa and Horum, and maybe some other determined few.

"Okay, you can come along, I usually take forward, and Sinon provides cover, that means that your job will be to protect Sinon from any strays that get through and assist me otherwise." I said.

"Okay!" Asuna said cheerfully and I sent her a party request. We currently didn't have [Level Hide] enabled—which let's people change the level that shows up to party members as long as their scanning skill is low enough or they don't scan you—which meant that Asuna say our levels, which is why she was very surprised by the fact that I had 6 levels on her.

"Umm... how are you so high level?" she asked me.

"Constant grinding, quests, all the boss fights including a few mini-boss or field-boss duos with Sinon." I said.

"Wow..." was her only answer then Sinon whistled and her bird came flying down.

"Lead us to the tower!" she said clearly to the bird, which took off started flying slowly in the direction of the dungeon.

In about half an hour we reached the tower and found it guarded by a field-boss, or it was a field boss here, but it was the 3rd floor's floor boss.

"Isn't that the 3rd floor boss guarding it?" asked Asuna carefully, she had been at the 3rd floor boss fight.

"Yes, but it shouldn't be a problem at our level, but you can't tell anyone of what you see." I said.

"O-okay, I promise." she said.

"Sinon, ready?" I asked.

"Ready as you are." she answered.

I drew both my swords—which shocked Asuna completely—and ran forward.

"H-h-how does he have two swords at once?" stuttered Asuna.

"Quest on the second floor, allows people incredibly skilled in Nito Ryu style kendo to equip two katanas at once." Sinon answered, the last part really quiet because I was starting to get far.

I saw Asuna start running after me and Sinon take out her bow. At this level it had decent freeze chance and she unleashed a [Rapid Fire] at [Nerius], only one of the arrows froze, but all of them slowed.

I lashed out with my [Dark Ember Katana]—which was burning at the moment—and struck the boss, because the boss was a f***ing tree the fire debut did massive damage, and the boss's hp was melting away.

"This is gonna be real easy!" I yelled.

Slashing at it with my other sword to counter balance my swing, my over sword was a [Cold Steel Katana], despite being the same material as Sinon's first floor dagger it was one of the best katanas for this floor. And it was nice to have a slowing debuff as well as a burning one.

I slashed my ice katana along one of its limbs to slow its motion, and then with my fire one along its body to burn it and deal damage.

The slowing was mainly to make dodging easy. During this fight Asuna mostly sat back and watched because ITS A F***ING TREE, RAPIERS DON'T KILL TREES.

After about 15 minutes of fighting, the boss was down to 50% of its last bar. It switched stages to its more mobile and faster stage, the animation looked like the bark all peeled off and the effect was lowered defense and higher speed, the boss looked somewhat like an [Elder Nepent] which looked like bigger, meaner [Little Nepents]. At this point the boss was on a a minute or two timer before the fire from my sword killed it.

And that minute or two I spent dodging until finally the boss shattered to dust, okay maybe I was taking a little to much credit, the reason I was able to consistently dodge the second stage was because the boss was being bombarded with ice.

After the boss fight I sheaved my second sword and looked at Asuna, who looked completely shocked, she was after all the first person to see us duo a boss.

"And that's how you duo kill a boss." I said, snapping Asuna out of whatever she was in.

"Sorry I was useless." she said quietly.

"Don't worry, no one expects you to poke a tree with a rapier when the next guy down has a flaming sword." I said.

"Okay, you guys are amazing by the way." she said.

"Nope, mostly Kirito is amazing, I didn't do anything amazing this fight, while I can shoot very well, I didn't this during fight, anyone could do that with my stats, Kirito did the hard part." Sinon said.

"Well, I wouldn't say anyone." I said.

"I'm think if it was Kibaou, he would try to shoot me, miss and hit the boss anyway." I finished and Asuna and Sinon laughed slightly.

"Let's go inside?" asked Sinon, and Asuna and I nodded.

I went into the building and got jumped by a [Cornvine], which looked basically like a piece of corn one root-legs with vines it used to attack.

Asuna said "I could make something tasty out of that..." after seeing the enemy.

I knocked the vine aside and before it could react and use its other vine an arrow flew and smacked into its soft corn part, its weak point. Then I leaped forward and slashed it, chopping apart the seed stock and killing it.

The next one we ran into, I parried, Asuna stabbed, and I finished it.

Our strategy for killing them was: Asuna or I parry, then the other one or Sinon attacks the stock, then I finish it.

We went like this for hours on end and finally made it to the 10th floor, which always had a checkpoint even though they rarely had a mid-boss, and never again had the weird thing with only having to beat the boss to move on to the next floor, probably a bug, or deliberate on Kayaba-san's part.

* * *

 **(Asuna, 1:04am)**

We had been going at it for hours and I was starting to regret partying with these two, how on earth do they keep fighting for hours and hours straight with no rest?

At this point my strikes were getting inaccurate and slow, thankfully against these monsters neither of those things really mattered.

Also after a while of fighting alongside Kirito I noticed that he hadn't used a single non [Dash Type] sword skill in not a boss fight, and used a heavy hitting blows in boss fights, but as a general rule Kirito didn't use sword skills, the same was true for Sinon when she occasionally used her dagger.

My favorite sword skill was [Linear], but as Kirito said after our first meeting, it was tiring and since I didn't need it I didn't use it.

Then finally after walking up another flight of stairs Sinon said "We can stop here, there is a checkpoint so we can go home, Asuna you look like you really need it."

"Yeah, I do. How do you guys keep going for hours and hours on end?" I whined and looked at Kirito, who looked exhausted, not as exhausted as me but still exhausted, Sinon was relatively less tired because she was at the back and just shot her bow, but by that logic Kirito should be the most tired not me.

"Asuna, where are you staying?" Kirito asked.

"I currently don't have an inn, the week long rent ran out last night." I answered sleepily.

"You can stay with us for tonight, going through the trouble of getting a room while you are so tired? Not a good idea, you'll probably get scammed by the perfectly honest NPC." said Sinon.

Then hurriedly added "You don't have to share a bed with anyone. One of us can sleep on the couch, or Kirito and I can sleep on one bed, we did a few times when I had nightmares or when there was no room with two beds available in the inn and we were too tired to look for another one."

Think back on this later, I don't know why I didn't tease them for that, though I teased them for talking in sync. Probably was to hypnotized by the idea of a bed.

"Yeah, sure." I managed to mumble out before collapsing.

* * *

 **(1:43am)**

I woke up slightly and realized I was on a bed, in my combat gear. Kirito and Sinon were asleep on the other bed, also in combat gear, though Sinon looked like she was clinging to Kirito, probably the nightmares she mentioned. About 30 seconds of looking at the adorable picture and I myself fell asleep.

* * *

 **Awkward ending, also please someone write me a better summary, pweasy pwease? Leave it as a review or message it to me, I read all my messages.**

 **Please** **leave you opinion in a review.  
**

 **Sorry for the two-part upload of the previous chapter, schedule issues.**

 **Anyway, I am bored of writing authors notes, I wanna wanna read Alicization!**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	14. Chapter 14: Christmas Special

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Good news for you, bad news for me, I have nearly finished all the SAO light novels, currently on the 12th one.**

 **This means that starting tomorrow it will no longer be disrupting me from writing.**

 **It also means that I may intentionally or unintentionally incorporate small parts of Alicization into my story, though no plot or characters (After all ideally this story will go all the way to the Alicization arc and if I use characters from there it won't make any sense.) I may use some ideas and terms.**

 **Also, 40k words have been broken.**

 **This will probably be a very fluffy pointless chapter.**

 **Also sorry if this chapter sucks more then most.**

Chapter 14: Christmas Special

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, December 24th, 1:02pm)**

I was currently on the latest floor, the 15th one, and I was in a forest, hunting.

What was I hunting? Rabbits.

Specifically [Christmas Bunnies], a special, rare, type of bunny that spawned only on christmas, as you can guess from the name.

It dropped special holiday drops like chocolate!

I was trying to catch some to get chocolate for Sinon, because as far as I knew she loved chocolate and it was near-immposible to make in this world, as in it should be possible technically but even Asuna hadn't figured it out yet.

Unexpectedly, I wasn't the only one celebrating Christmas in this death game, I expected that most others would either be extremely sad as this would be their first Christmas without their families, or ignore it and keep trying to clear the game.

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard a sound to my right. I pulled out my bow quietly and turned.

Once I turned I saw would looked like a large and white rabbit with a santa hat. I drew back my bow and shot, the arrow slammed into it at high speed and removed its 1 hp point.

I inspected the drops window that had some exp and col rewards that were rather large, the exp comparable to a field-boss on floor 10 or so.

But what I was most interested in this case was that I had received 2 [Christmas Chocolate Bars]. I decided that I would hunt for them the rest of day, because they gave a lot of exp anyway, so it was probably a fairly efficient in terms of time, effort, and risk means to gain exp.

* * *

 **(8:05pm)**

I had been hunting for the past seven hours and caught a total of seven rabbits, the spoils I got were some Christmas clothes like a santa hat and a santa beard and a little over a dozen chocolate bars, as well as some other stuff not really worth mentioning at the moment.

I was anxiously awaiting for tomorrow, just because I wanted to see the look on Sinon's face when she sees chocolate.

I was wandering around the 15th main town, because it was too early for me to go to bed and to late for me to grind, so I had no idea what to do.

After wandering around for a little while I stumbled upon a small shop that was open, though at the moment there were very few shops open, so I decided to go inside and check it out.

When I went in I saw a vaguely familiar face as the shopkeeper. I had seen him during most of the earlier boss fights, and a few of the later ones. He was one of the few still friendly to us after the stunt Sinon and I pulled on the second floor, his name was Egil, and we was a [Two-Handed Axe] user, and one of the better ones at that.

Though I didn't know he was a shop owner, I guess that explains why he was slightly behind on levels despite showing up to a bunch of the boss fights.

"Hey Kirito! Didn't expect to see you here!" he said.

"I didn't know you were a shop owner. I just walked in because it was open the day before Christmas and I was bored." I answered.

"Open 24/7 except sometimes." he said cheerfully.

I chuckled and said "What kind of things do you sell here?"

He answered "All kinds of things, potions, swords, armor, crystals, and even some food, though it isn't very high quality."

"So basically you sell everything, which means you sell nothing good?" I asked jokingly.

"Now I wouldn't put it that way..." he said.

"My potions, crystals, armor are all top quality, though your sword probably exceeds the quality of my weapons, I am not so sure about you armor." he said.

"Right... Let's see, I take your finest piece of armor and slash it once and we find out how top-quality your armor is." I said.

"No! I can't sell it if it's broken, and anyway I know that your sword is stronger then my armor, but is your armor stronger then my armor?" he answered hurriedly.

"Probably, anyway it is definitely stronger then your armor of the same weight." I said, I was currently wearing the [Cloak of Starless Night]—that my [Cloak of Midnight] (funny it turned midnight exactly as I wrote the word 'midnight') transformed into—and it was an amazing piece of armor. For its weight it had a ridiculous defense bonus, but along with that it gave large bonuses to [Agility], [Strength], and any [Sword-Type Weapons], as well as [Hiding] which was nice because it gave me a certain level of hiding without wasting a slot on it.

After browsing his wares for about half an hour I decided to buy some of his high-class health potions, which were good because they healed a ridiculous amount of health over a long time, basically a regeneration boost for the next 2 hours and not a health potion. I decided that I would pick up the [Alchemy] skill in one of my empty slots soon, because it was like cooking but more useful. I should be able to create any number of useful effects, like boosts to hidden or not hidden stats. A little known fact (as in literally known only to me and Kayaba-san) was that a luck potion was possible, and if you used one, it would result in you acutely raising your luck stat permanently as well because of the way raising your luck stat works.

The downside was that they required ridiculously rare materials to make. So you needed to be lucky to make luck potions...

* * *

 **(December 25th, 8:00am)**

I woke up at 8:00am by my alarm clock as usual and then realized I shouldn't have set one because it was Christmas today, well since I'm up early might as well do the usual, 'Early Morning Grinding'.

On second thought, why don't I start getting all the stuff required for the [Alchemy].

NPC shops were only closed on Aincrad holidays, not real world ones, even though there were events for real world ones.

Because my [Alchemy] level would be at 1/1000 I wouldn't be able to use any sophisticated equipment for brewing anyway so I might as well go to the lowest level shop were the basic gear is available and buy that. That would be around the 5th floor if I recall correctly.

Potion making was complicated but the general idea was simple.

(The following part probably exists in many games and such but was also invented by me and my brother while just running around and talking, plus some stuff I come up with on the spot.) When you make a potion you need water, a catalyst—which come in different 'classes', you need higher class ones for higher class ingredients—and ingredients—which also come with different 'classes' as well as different effects, and strengths of these effects. The class determines the amount of and what strength catalysts are needed, basically every ingredient has some value, and every catalyst has some value, the sum of the values of the ingredients (greater then linear sum though, for those of you who understand what that means) must equal the sum of the values of the catalysts (though this goes up less then linearly per ingredient, thus encouraging one strong catalyst and preventing people from making very strong potions just by dumping an abundant supply of poor catalyst.) So if you had a basic health ingredient and a basic catalyst which had equal values you could make a potion, however if you dump two of each into the potion, not only will there not be enough catalyst, but also the effect won't be doubled.

The maximum 'value' of a potion depends on the alchemists level.

The effects of potions vary from recovering health or the hidden stamina stat, to temporarily boosting strength or agility stats, to anti-posion and temporary immunity to poisons, as well as some more unique and interesting effects, such as luck potions.

Almost anything can be used as an ingredient but most yield trash results.

For example something as basic as a feather could result in an agility boost.

If that same feather was made into a potion by a person with a stat of 100/1000 it might have some small effect, but if used by a person with [Alchemy] 1000/1000 the effect would be much larger, though not ten times larger.

There are also special modifier ingredients which do things like reduce the effect but increase the duration of a potion, or the opposite. With a health potion if you reduce the regeneration effect but increase the duration with even a semi decent ingredient it will increase the total amount healed. In math terms the integral over the duration of the potion with respect to the effect strength of the potion will increase (what I'm taking a calculus class right now, like writing this instead of doing my homework, just kidding, I am having no trouble keeping up with the homework and have plenty of free time).

[Alchemy] could also be used to create something other then potions such as smoke bombs for a random example and once you get it high enough you can unlock the [Crystal Craft] skill, which just as you expect lets you make crystals such as healing crystals.

Anyway, back to buying potion materials. I went to the [Teleport Gate] and teleported to the 5th floor, where I bought a bunch of glass bottles and basic ingredients to level up, as well as the basic equipment that would be the equivalent of a hammer and anvil for a blacksmith, in other words, mandatory.

Afterwards I went back to our inn room and started making basic stat boost potions to level up, the reason I didn't make health potions was because we already had better ones then I could make at the moment, but there were no potions sold by NPCs for stat boosts and no one had really gotten the [Alchemy] skill yet, so even these were better then nothing.

After the hour and a half it for Sinon to finally wake up I had managed to create about 50 potions, and gotten my skill up to about 50/1000, the first of the potions were terrible, but as your [Alchemy] skill increases the quality with the same ingredients also increases.

"What are you doing?" asked Sinon who had finally woken up.

"I am leveling up my newly acquired [Alchemy] skill." I answered.

"I decided it would be useful as practically nobody else seems to have picked one up yet and the potions made by players can be far better then the ones made by NPCs, also ones made by NPCs are practically limited to health potions and not any other kind, despite the literally nearly infinite possibilities." I continued.

"I made a bunch of [Agility] potions this morning, they are pretty terrible so I don't mind wasting a few. Try drinking one, they make you feel lighter." I finished passing her a potion.

She drank it and suddenly looked like she grew slightly, actually it was just that she effectively got lighter, so the force that was being put into holding her up had gone into making her go up. She then quickly lowered down to her normal height and said "Wow, it's like you wake up and weigh a few kilos (converts to 2.2*(a few) pounds) lighter."

"I know, that would be useful in a fight too." I pointed out and she nodded.

"Though these are really weak and the effects should wear off in only a few minutes." I said.

"Still, I see why the skill could be useful." she said.

"Anyway, you know it's Christmas today." I said, the fact she didn't look at all panicked meant that she already knew though.

"Duh." was her simple answer.

"So, for Christmas I got you this." I said pulling out some chocolate.

"What is it." she asked.

I poked her so she opened her mouth and then threw a piece of chocolate in her mouth. She was about to be angry but then forgot about it started thinking about chocolate. She looked actually happy for the first time after the start of this.

After a minute she finished the chocolate and shyly asked "Is there any more?" with an adorable pleading expression, it translated to 'Can I have more?' because it was blatantly obvious there was more because I was holding it in my hands.

"Here you go." I said and tossed the rest of the bar into her hands.

She ate it happily and slowly and said "And I thought my present was awesome."

Then she added "Speaking of which, here it is." she said going through her inventory and handing me a wrapped box.

I opened it and found that it had a **[Insert Author's Lake of Imagination Here]** (It won't play an important role and apparently it being a fiction story didn't make coming up with presents any easier, so I am just going to do that and go with it.)

After we chatted and ate chocolate for a while Sinon said "Hey Kirito, do you want to go have fun today and NOT grind all day, like sight seeing, or eating at a restaurant, or just taking a walking the snow."

"Sure, we could do all of those, I mean if we don't grind we have hours on hours of free time." I said.

"Let's go do something right now, I just want to do something someone would do in real life today." she said and we left the room.

It was cold and snowing out side and we walked for a little while, eventually we walked off the path and walked into an area with deeper snow and then the idea that we should have a snowball fight—though it was stupid because of how accurate Sinon was—struck me.

I leaned down and swiftly picked up a snowball and threw it at Sinon in one motion, who was too surprised to dodge and it hit her in the face.

Her response was rather unsurprisingly a snowball to my face, or it would have been to my face if I didn't block it with my arms.

We threw snowballs back and forth because at some point Leafa and Horum showed up and started throwing snowballs at both of us, so we teamed up and started pelting them with snowballs and after about two hours of this, we decided to stop, with Leafa and Horum literally in a pile of snow, and Sinon and I practically not hit because of our dodging and blocking skills.

Then while they were still digging themselves out we ran off, though we didn't show it much, we did still feel bad about spilling with them on the second floor.

* * *

 **(Sinon, 6:03pm)**

After our 'little' snowball fight we had walked around and had some competitions on small stuff.

Then Kirito said "Why don't we have dinner about now, I'm hungry."

Since I didn't see a problem with that I said "Sure, why not." and started looking for a restaurant that looked good.

We were probably the richest people in the game—counted as money divided by number of people in organization—at the moment so price was not of the essence.

After a little bit of searching we found a player restaurant that seemed to rated rather highly on Argo's restaurant guide book, which basically means she asked people for their opinion on a bunch of restaurants and put it in a book, which—unlike the basic guide book she gave out for free—she sold, though not for a very high price.

We decided to go in a see if it was any good.

After looking at the menu—which was surprisingly large for a player owned restaurant—Kirito decided to order fish and I ordered some seafood, which until now I didn't know existed and I loved.

It took only about 10 minutes for the food to arrive—due to the accelerated cooking process in SAO—and when it did we dug in happily.

""Itadakimasu"" we both said at the same time before starting to eat.

After about half an hour we finished our delicious meal (writing in anymore detail will make me hungry and it is like 2am so it's not like I can just go get some food (this is my pathetic excuse for my laziness)) we went out side and walked around in the snow, which was surprisingly fun, for being walking.

We stopped in a circular paved area, with a smaller circle inside it where there was a fairly large tree, and I looked up to look at the stars.

Only to see some mistletoe above us, and before my brain could process the thought that came to mind, I acted on it and kissed Kirito who had just turned to face me...

About half of a second to late I realized what I was doing but it was to late to turn back. Kirito, surprisingly, instead of pulling back, after a moment kissed me back.

* * *

 **Cliffhanger-ish awkward ending.**

 **How is the idea for a first kiss? I feel awkward writing that question.**

 **Anyway review, favorite, and follow please.**

 **Also exactly 3 thousand word chapter.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	15. Chapter 15: Progress

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Unfortunately** **for you I have discovered the existence of SAO Light Novels 13 and 14, though I will probably finish the 14th one by the time I will start writing the next chapter as I already read the whole 13th one and a significant part of the 14th one today, so I should be finished by tomorrow, but for now, another half-baked chapter, soorry.**

 **Also, I want to go to bed a bit earlier then I did last night (hint: it was after the AM pi time.), and I also want to read SAO, so I may make this chapter a bit shorter.**

Chapter 15: Progress

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, December 30th, 11:03am)**

The front lines had almost caught up to the beta test, being on the 18th floor, yet to fight the boss. I am almost certain LABs depend on the person who got them now, because when Kirito got the LAB for the 16th floor boss, instead of giving another [Blizzard] bow it gave a ring called [Icebind], which allowed something which seemed to be ice magic to a very limited extent.

The 17th floor boss I got the LAB on and it gave a bow called [Brimstone] which was a flaming-looking bow that shot burning arrows, the moment I looked at in my inventory I found it flashing and saying _**'Combinable with [Blizzard]'**_ and when I checked my [Blizzard] bow I had equipped it said _**'Combinable with [Brimstone]'**_.

So I went to Lisbeth, the incredibly lucky blacksmith and asked her to combine them, she said she had never heard of combining weapons before but when I gave her both of them the option was available. The result was a bow called [Frostfire], one of the bow limbs was from the [Brimstone] bow and the other from the [Blizzard] one and depending on which side was up last (relative to her, so if she did a flip it wouldn't switch) (for when firing with the bow held horizontally) it would adopt its effects, allowing her to effectively switch freely between her two bows.

Kirito still refrained from using his two swords at once in public, despite the fact that he had told Argo of the not-quite-unique skill that was effectively unique because of the ridiculous requirements to acquire it.

Kirito and I had not duo killed any of the floor bosses this time, but we had done so with one of the mid-bosses and multiple field-bosses and mini-bosses.

Anyway, currently we were on the 18th floor, which was a one full of caves, tunnels and gigantic caverns, as well as underground lakes and bioluminescent plants and animals.

Kirito and I were sitting on the very cliff we sat on the a day or two before the end of beta test, looking at the view. Though this time we were much closer to each other, mentally and physically.

We had been sitting there for about 15 minutes prior, remembering when SAO was a fun game, when Kirito said "Let's get going and find the boss in its dungeon, I received a PM from Argo that it had been found and they are having trouble with the field-boss guarding it."

"I don't mind, as beautiful as this view is, I was never really one for admiring scenery, and fighting is fun." I answered.

"That last part makes you sound like a crazed psycho." he said and then added "Not saying that you are, and I totally agree, one of the most fun things in this world is fighting, after all, it is a MMORPG. MMORPGs are fighting game, even this one isn't designed for sightseeing."

"Well, let's get going, Argo sent you the map data right?" I asked getting up.

"Yep, it should be this way." he said getting up and starting to slowly walk in some direction.

* * *

 **(11:34am)**

It took us around half an hour to reach the place and we saw people struggling to fight what looked like a giant earthworm, the problem seemed to be that it would only surface under people to try to swallow them with little warning, then it would go back into the ground.

Naturally they would need some way to prevent it from hiding under the ground. Freezing it probably wouldn't work, as the freezing abilities of her bow, though at their full potential now, couldn't restrain such a large boss.

That really only left dodging when it came up and going on the offensive. While Kirito rushed in to help, it became my job to cover him and also I needed figure out how to determine where the boss would come up.

After a few times of the boss coming up and nearly eating some of the people there she figured that it came up where the person closest to it was when it dived and that it took 5 then 6 then 7 then 8 then 9 then 5 again, the cycle repeating itself to come up.

She yelled this out to everyone and so whenever it was about to sink a high [Agility] player would come close to it, then everyone would surround the area where they were the moment the boss's head entered the ground.

Once it surfaced everyone would hack away at it until it was about to go into the ground again, then the process would repeat.

This went on for at least half an hour—it seemed the boss had a lot of HP—but eventually it shattered into polygons.

The person who received the LAB was none other then her self, as he was able to attack the boss from a distance even right before it dived.

The reward was something called [The Burrowing Axe] it was a good two-handed axe with the ability to ignore a good amount of the target's defense.

She would probably end up selling it to Egil, who was almost certainly the best two-handed axe user in the clearing party, and likely over all.

After the fight everyone else went back to town to rest and only she and Kirito remained.

"What would they do without us..." I muttered.

"Probably croak on the spot and die." said Kirito back.

"Yeah, whatever though, let's go explore until we get tired, though not to the point we can hardly walk like we did those few times. I don't think Asuna will ever want to party with us again after that." I said.

"Sure." was Kirito's answer.

Once we went inside the enemies inside were mostly various bugs, some blood thirsty bats, and a few worms. Geez, this floor should be called the 'gross enemies floor'.

I muttered "On top of that, they come in swarms instead of being individually strong, which was even worse."

"Oh come on, burning bugs in flames is fun." said Kirito, lighting his sword ablaze and striking out, the fire's power gave his sword a small AOE attack, making him able to slay swarms of bugs at once.

I on the other hand had to shoot a BOW at BUGS, it helped that the burning arrows also killed the bugs within an area around them and not just ones directly hit but it didn't help very much. It was like trying to fill a cube using lines, what Kirito was doing was like trying to fill a cube with planes. (Geometry, which while if they were real planes would also be impossible, seeing as they had considerable thickness).

As we got higher and higher the number of small bugs decreased and the number of larger, individually stronger creatures such as gigantic bats or scorpions. Yes there were scorpions.

These larger and fewer creatures were much more enjoyable to deal with, even if slightly more difficult, as the start was effectively swinging a sword (or shooting a bow) at thin air.

The scorpions had high defense and were dangerous because of the poison in their stings. The claws of the scorpions were very easy to dodge so they didn't pose much of a threat, but the tail lashed out at very high speed, meaning that if you were caught by surprise—unless you had a ridiculously fast reaction speed like Kirito—you were likely to get hit, then your movements would be slowed and your health would drain away.

Unless you had anti-poison crystals or potions (which were also sold by NPCs) you had a fairly low chance of survival unless you repeatedly used healing crystals/potions or teleported into a safe-zone where your HP wouldn't drain unless you were in a duel, and even then status effects gained outside the duel have no effect on you while dueling in a safe-zone. Paralysis also does not effect you in safe-zones despite it not draining HP.

Basically your options were to: cure it, heal more then it can damage, or wait in a safe-zone. That all is if you got hit. With his ridiculous reaction speed Kirito had managed to avoid even the first and unexpectedly fast sting, and so during this whole time he had not been hit by a single poisonous attack.

We made our way up the dungeon, at slowing pace that started as mere minutes on the first level and going to over an hour already on the ninth floor.

Kirito struck out seemingly randomly with his sword, but just before the strike finished a bat got chopped in half by it.

"Hey Kirito, wanna rest yet?" I asked him, incase he was tired and pretending not to be, though he wasn't really pretending as it was pretty obvious he was.

"Once we reach the tenth floor sure, looking at the map, we mapped out most of the area covered by the circular size of the tower already so we are bound to find it soon, with only a few passages left to search." he answered.

Then suddenly turned to the left and said "Here's one we haven't been in yet, let's go." before starting to walk into the passage.

After a few minutes of turns without splits and a few enemies we finally made it to the stairs to the next floor and Kirito said "That must be the largest fraction of a boss dungeon floor we ever mapped out on the first run just to find the way up, I can only see a few blank areas, with maybe a few hundred or so meters worth of labyrinth crammed into it at max."

"Well, let's rest at least, even if we are going to continue today. I don't want you getting hurt because you were too proud to take a break." I said sternly.

"I have no objections to just going back to our inn room and doing something like leveling my [Alchemy] or maybe finally making something really useful." he answered and walked onto the teleporter that appeared on the tenth floor of every boss dungeon since the second one.

I stepped on as well and grabbed his hand then said "Teleport Chirmal" which was the name of the 15th main town where we were still staying to make it more difficult to find us, for both the people who hate us and fans, though the later are very few and most of them friends on our friends lists that can check our location fairly precisely anyway.

We appeared in the teleport gate on the 15 floor in a flash of light and let go of each others hands, even if we had kissed we still didn't really do any public displays of affection...

We walked in the direction of our inn and arrived within a few minutes and went in.

* * *

 **(December 31st, 10:23am)**

Kirito and I decided to wake up a bit earlier and start working on the next ten floors because it would be New Year later so we wouldn't do very much this day.

We had been in here for about an hour and had reached the 12th floor, seeing as the tenth was just a checkpoint with no maze that meant we had solved one floor in an hour, at that rate we could theoretically with an incredible amount of fatigue clear it all today, but I didn't feel like tiring myself to the point of collapse on New Year's Eve.

* * *

 **(7:03pm)**

We had managed to reach the 18th floor but decided to retire a bit earlier because of New Years Eve.

Later tonight there would almost certainly be an event for that and also people would celebrate on their own, spending all day tiring ourselves out didn't sound appealing on a day that was normally a holiday.

* * *

 **Sorry for this being the shortest chapter yet, but next one will probably be longer as I expect to finish the 14th SAO light novel before that point.**

 **Please don't hate me...**

 **Anyway, cya me sslleeeeppyy!**

 **Sorry let me try again.**

 **Cya me oouuttiiyy!**

 **Much better.**


	16. Chapter 16: New Year

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Sorry that last chapter was shorter, but I really wanted to go to bed, and I wanted to upload that night, I ended up going** **to bed closer to morning then sunset at around 3:20, falling asleep at something 3:30 and then I woke up at like 9:30, so yeah, miserable me.**

 **At least this one is way longer then usual.**

 **Also if any of you know if there are any light novels for SAO after 14 please tell me.**

 **Also I know I inflated the levels quite a bit compared to the story, sorry.**

 **Sorry if I fail at making a proper holiday chapter like I did last time and just have tiny holiday part...**

 **And I realized something  
Agility: Makes your body subjectively lighter.  
Strength: Makes other things subjectively lighter.**

 **Chapter 16: New Year**

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, December 31st, 8:04pm)**

New Year's Eve was well, this night, or next morning, which one was it. Anyway it was at 12:00am, which I guess is next morning.

There were going to be fireworks in all the main towns and we planned to gather together all our friends for tonight, which was an unsurprisingly short list, given our reputation.

The people invited would be Leafa, Horum, Asuna, Klein and his guild, Argo, Lisbeth, and Egil. Those people plus Kirito were all the people on my friends list. And probably my only friends, here or the real world.

The meeting place was 15th floor main plaza and we were meeting 9pm. Which meant an hour to kill and Kirito wasn't around, he was looking for ingredients for his [Alchemy], and I must admit, drinking an [Agility] boost potion does feel both cool and weird. Maybe he plans to give them out as drinks?

I could look around and see if anyone is selling anything interesting I guess.

I probably shouldn't go to the dungeon without Kirito, my style isn't the best for solo, even though I can use a dagger.

I gave a piece of meat to my pet bird and told him "Sit quietly on my shoulder."

While the bird was stupider then a person, it was hooked up to Cardinal, the central AI of SAO, like all the other pets, and so could understand things like that and speak.

Most NPCs were also hooked up to it, but for NPCs it is harder because the expected intelligence for a person is much higher then a pet.

At least that's what Kirito said.

Cardinal can read emotions to a certain extent so your pet reacts to your emotions, which can be a disadvantage in negotiations so you need to tell your pet to be quiet during those times.

Then I went out and to the [Teleport Gate] and said "Teleport Town of Beginnings!"

In a flash of light I appeared on the 1st floor main teleport gate, I was here to look at the small stalls with holiday things that were available last week for Christmas.

I started walking along one of the main streets but the few stalls open were just the normal ones, everyone was probably celebrating New Year's Eve with their friends.

I decided to start running and almost immediately bumped into someone and knocked them down, and fell myself "Oops, sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." I said slightly embarrassed after getting up and offering them a hand.

The person reached up and turned and then said "Asada-san!?" it was Endou, the person who had been making my life hell—before Kirito showed up—in the real world.

I dropped her and said "Endou-san, what are you doing here? And where are your lackeys?" using the moment of her on the ground to send a message to Kirito that said _"If I don't message you again within 15 minutes please come to my location"_

His answer was _"Don't do anything too dangerous."_

"It's Uodne in here, and obviously I wanted to play this game. What is your name here?" she said not really hiding the venom in her voice.

"None of your concern, as I would prefer that you not address me at all, and it is very impolite to address people by their real names without their permission in this world." I answered coldly.

"Oh? Well then come here please nameless-san." she said, starting to drag me towards an alley, where her other two friends were probably waiting for whatever reason, as she couldn't possibly have known I would run into her,even if she knew I was playing. I could use the system to force her to let go of me, as this was a town, but I decided against it for now. My [Strength] stat was also probably far higher then her's judging by her gear and the fact that she's a coward and wouldn't dare do anything nearly dangerous enough to level up.

After we entered the alley as expected there were her two friends. "Oh nameless-san, would you kindly lend us some money, you seem to have plenty money, and we are running out of money to pay for inns, so it is only reasonable." Uodne said.

"No." I said bluntly and coldly, I decided I would dye my hair blue after this so that nobody else from our school would recognize me.

"Oh well how about yes?" she said, starting to form a finger gun with her fingers.

I grabbed her hand and crushed it with my high [Strength], though her hp wouldn't go down and she would feel a limited amount of pain, even compared to the normal amount outside safe-zones and not compared to the real world and said "How about this, we duel, half death, and if you win, I'll give you some money, and if I win, you stop being a coward who hides behind others and tries to take what's their's and just earn some money. With the gear you have killing the boars outside this town is basically zero-risk, and you would only need to kill a few for a decent room for all three of you cowards."

"Fine, not like you could fight me anyway." she answered.

We walked out into the plaza and I said "Send a duel request then." if you send someone a duel request—unless you have a special item which I don't have—they can see your name, and I would rather her not know my name, as it is rather hard to spread rumors about someone who you can just give things like hair color and such about, which I plan to change anyway.

"Fine!" she snarled and sent it, when someone sends you a duel request you can make your name not show up on plaque which shows up and instead show up as [Unknown].

I accepted and selected [Half-Death] mode, which is exactly what it sounds like, to win bring their hp to half. She agreed and the 20 second timer started counting down.

She drew her sword and took her buckler off her back, both were a little above basic quality, I wouldn't need to defend for my passive regeneration and armor to make me invulnerable to the attacks.

As the timer counted down towards zero I stood still, I didn't even bother drawing my dagger, as I could probably bring her hp to half—if this wasn't a duel that limited total hp drain half and then the duel ended it would be all her hp—with a single punch.

About a second after the timer reached zero she charged forward, geez so SLOW.

I, of course, didn't bother moving and ignored her blow, which healed as faster then the blade cut through me, though delayed by about .3 seconds.

She continued slashing at my body, showing her ultimate stupidity again, what was it? 'Stupidity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. And while theoretically it was possible she assumed I had a limited amount of regeneration, I am fairly certain she just hasn't noticed that my HP isn't going down.

I took a photo crystal out of my pocket, which I had there I forget why and got it ready.

Then I said "Uodne, you realize that you haven't damaged me yet, right?" and then once her expression turned to utter shock I snapped a picture of it, it wasn't for blackmail or anything, it was just so I could get another picture of her face when I see her reaction when I show her this one, and then I can make a gallery of her stupid reactions and PM them to both her friends.

She looked utterly shocked and stuttered out "H-how is t-that p-possible?"

"What is your level currently?" I asked.

"Level 3." she said.

"My current level is over 15 times higher then your's, on top of that you haven't used a single sword skill, and with the clumsiness of your strikes even the most basic ones which just help you swing the sword right will help. Did you even do the basic tutorial?" I answered, my current level being 47.

Then I said "Well, time to end this..."

I pulled back my fist and punched her in the face, using the [Martial Arts] skill [Jab], the most basic one practically, her HP almost instantly dropped to half, which showed that without the fact that this was a duel, I would have overkilled her by a factor 2 or 3 at least.

Then I sent Kirito a message saying _"I'm fine, no need to come."_

Then I said "Well, I already gave you more then I ever intended to give you in advice." and walked off.

After I reached the [Teleport Gate] I checked the time and found that it was already almost 9, somehow I had killed an hour.

I walked onto it and said "Teleport Chirmal!"

I saw that everyone save Egil was already here, and possibly some of Klein's guild, I don't know them.

"Hey, Sinon, why did you send that message by the way?" Kirito asked me.

"I ran into Endou-san, though she is calling herself Uodne here." I answered, the others would have no idea what I was talking about even if they heard but Kirito would.

"Oh, I take it nothing happened?" He answered with a question and I nodded.

"I don't know how to deal with parties..." I said "I haven't been to one in for years."

Kirito then answered "Well, fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, this isn't a party, but just chatting, food, and fireworks, but we aren't the ones launching them."

He had told me earlier that he was going to make a bunch of potions with random effects including minor buffs and debuffs like like [Strength] down, [Agility] down, dizziness and sleepiness—which SAO somehow induces—and even some 30 second or so paralysis potions then flavored them with Asuna's help and then dyed them depending on the flavor and not depending on the effect so what you get is random.

So I wasn't surprised when he opened his inventory and a box about a third of a meter to a side appeared in his hands.

Everyone else however was surprised because they weren't expecting them.

"I brought drinks! And they are NOT alcohol." he said loudly.

Everyone took 'drinks' from the box and got ready to drink them all at once.

"3... 2... 1... Drink!" said Klein, one of the people with a darker potion.

Everyone drank their potions and then Klein collapsed and some people sagged, probably because they got [Agility] down potions, effectively making their whole body heavier then Klein said "Hey, what the hell? I can't move!"

And everyone burst out laughing.

Then Kirito started explaining "I recently got the [Alchemy] skill and I was making a bunch of potions with various ingredients to experiment and level my [Alchemy] skill, then I took ALL the potions, except the ones which were dangerous or lasted too long, but including most of the ones that ended up negative and had Asuna help me flavor them like various juices from the real world and such. That even included a few paralysis potions. By the way, paralysis is just a massive [Agility] and [Strength] down, but if you use smaller ones you can make them last longer."

I wondered why he drank the potion with a smug look on his face that implied he was sure that he got a good one so I asked "How did you know you wouldn't get a negative one yourself?"

He answered "Because once your [Alchemy] skill is high enough smelling a potion made with ingredients you know will tell you what ingredients it is made with and what they do."

By this point a minute passed and Klein finally stood up and ran at Kirito trying to tackle him. Of course Kirito just moved to side just enough to avoid him but stuck his foot out and tripped him, causing Klein to fall on his face.

Then Klein muttered "That's not very samurai like, both parts."

"Even though I use a katana doesn't mean I want to act like a samurai, unlike you." answered Kirito.

Then Klein looked like he decided something and said "Hey Kirito, let's have a duel, first strike!"

"Fine." Kirito answered and sent a duel request to Klein.

Klein accepted and they were teleported 10 meters apart with a clear line of sight and a timer restricting their movements for 20 seconds.

Then just before the timer reached zero Kirito got in position for a charge, and Klein decided to counter charge. Then I realized just how big a mistake Klein was about to make.

The timer hit zero and Klein charged forward with a charge skill, but because he expected Kirito to do the same and for them to meet in the middle, when Kirito wasn't there he was unbalanced.

Kirito charged forward less then a second later, but inside of charging at Klein, he charged just barely past him, stopping just behind the unbalanced samurai Kirito struck at his back, winning the duel and knocking him to the ground in about a second and a half.

After getting up Klein said "Wow Kirito, you're good!"

"A big part of combat is deceit, like me feinting a charge at the start of the duel, so that you charged and expected to meet me half way, and then when I charged slightly redirecting it to end up behind you instead of clashing with you, which I would probably still have quickly won with because you were off balance and both my strength and agility are probably higher then your's." Kirito explained.

"See what I mean, really good. Sinon you have a good partner." Klein said.

I just nodded at the last part, then someone else decided that this was taking too long and cleared their throat "Wasn't this supposed to be a celebration and break, not Kirito beating people up." it was Asuna.

"Okay, but he literally asked for it." said Kirito.

Lisbeth then asked "Hey Kirito, can you sort the potions into the good and the bad ones so we can drink them, it would be a shame to let Asuna's delicious flavoring go to waste."

"Sure." he answered and went to the box, he picked up the potions one by one and sniffed them, then he would look at the space above them. Some of them he would put in his inventory and some he would put on the table (I know I never mentioned a table before) until the box was empty, then he took the box and smashed it with his fist, probably to avoid cluttering his inventory with worthless junk.

"Okay, done" he said a few minutes after the request was made "these should all be the good ones."

"That means that they will all be [Agility], [Strength], health, anti-poison, poison immunity, or stamina potions." he added.

Everyone took a potion again and all drank at the some time, this time nobody collapsed.

Then Asuna said "Whatever was in this one, I would like to use these for combat, it might not be a huge difference but I definitely feel lighter."

"Then it is an agility potion, normally when your agility goes up it goes up slowly, but with potions it is almost instant so you feel lighter, the effect of agility is approximately that your body gets subjectively lighter and the effect of strength is approximately that everything else gets subjectively lighter."

"I planned to get my level up higher so I can make higher duration and effect ones before using them for battle, but I guess anything is better then nothing." he finished.

"Anyway, wasn't this supposed to be a party of some kind where we take a break from fighting?" asked Egil.

""It was?"" asked Kirito and I at the same time jokingly and everyone laughed.

"Of course those two don't know the meaning of 'stop trying to get stronger by fighting for like 10 hours straight'!" said Asuna.

And Kirito whispered in my ear "I am pretty sure she is never partying with us again for something other then a boss fight."

I whispered back "Yeah, probably."

"What you talking about?" asked Asuna teasingly.

"About how you would probably never want to party with us again after 'that'." Kirito answered.

"What is 'that'?" asked Lisbeth.

"We were in a boss dungeon for hours upon hours and once we stopped to take a break Asuna literally fell asleep on the spot." I answered.

"""You two are insane.""" said Argo, Leafa, and Horum all at the same time.

""Yep, probably."" Kirito and I answered in sync.

"But we don't plan on dying any time soon." I added.

"Our chances of dying while duo killing a mini-boss are probably lower then the chance of an average person at a boss raid to die, even in a full raid. So you won't be getting rid of us that easy." Kirito said.

"So what has everyone been up to?" asked Lisbeth.

"Sinon and I have been clearing boss dungeons and saving incompetent retards who probably do more harm then good on the battlefield from a field-boss. Also I have been making more potions and am starting to be able to make something not total trash." Kirito said.

"We had to save a bunch of people from some earthworm with attack patterns so simple it might as well have been a book yesterday." I added.

"You two need to take breaks occasionally." said Asuna.

"We do, like today we went back from the dungeon early, at only 7pm and then had to kill a few hours instead of killing a few hundred scorpions." I said.

"7pm does NOT count as early when you start at like 11am! You two are going to get yourselves killed." nearly yelled Asuna.

""You are not our mother."" Kirito and I said at the same time.

Then Kirito added "Also, the only thing that we are going to get killed are the bosses and monsters that stand in the way of leaving this world. We plan on surviving by the way. And anyway, if did take breaks, what would we even do? Sit and do nothing and die of boredom?"

"You two are definitely battle-crazed and super-human AND need to rest more, how much sleep did you get last night?" he finished with a question.

""And you are not our father."" we said at the same time.

"And for your information we got at least 6 hours of sleep each." I added.

""""""""""""..."""""""""""" everyone collectively sighed.

"You two are probably the smartest and stupidest people in this world at the same time." said Egil.

Then Kirito corrected him "Wrong, Kayaba-san is still definitely smarter then either of us in many ways, and is undoubtedly in this world."

"By the way, Egil, we got something you might like from the aforementioned giant earthworm." I said going into my inventory and materializing the axe, which was fairly heavy in my hands. Despite being one of the highest level players my strength stat wasn't all that high, so heavy two-handed weapons were very heavy.

"What is it?" he asked.

"[The Burrowing Axe], ignores part of the opponents defense." Kirito said.

"Oh, interesting, I was needing a new axe soon." he said.

"Are you saying the axe I made isn't good enough?" asked Lisbeth in fake anger, knowing full well that the axe Egil had right now was outdated.

"Maybe I am..." he answered and took the offered axe, swapping it in for his current one.

This was the first time I paid heed to what it looked like, it was a brownish-dirty colored axe with a long handle wrapped in leather straps all the way up, it had one thick, solid, heavy blade and on the other side was a deadly looking spike.

He held in his hands and then after a moment said "Nice!"

"You two are still not off the hook about your lack of sleep and rest." said Asuna.

"But resting is so boorriinngg!" whined Kirito.

"I don't get you at all." said Horum.

"Oniisan you're crazy." said Leafa.

"Ouch." Kirito said.

"We probably are crazy though." I quietly pointed out to him.

"Whatever, we can discuss this another time, now let's go celebrate the new year by clearing the rest of the dungeon on 18th floor, there are only a few layers left." said Kirito and everyone excluding myself glared at him.

"Just kidding, geez." he said in a tone that said he was indeed kidding when he said it.

"Then what do we do?" I asked.

"I know we can... I dunno..." said Asuna.

"See?" Kirito said, we seemed to be winning right now.

"I know! I know!" said Lisbeth cheerfully.

Everyone turned to her "We can go watch the fireworks!" she said.

Kirito and I face-palmed "The fireworks start in an 2 hours and it was already a given we were going. We need something to do **before** then." said Kirito overly slowly pronouncing every syllable.

"We can have fighting classes?" I offered.

"What is it with you and fighting?" said Asuna.

"You got any better ideas?" I asked.

"We can look at the stars?" Asuna suggested.

"For two hours?" Kirito questioned.

"We could take a nap?" I suggested only half-jokingly, though we insisted that we were fine we didn't really get enough sleep last night.

"I'm fine with that." said Kirito laying on his back and closing his eyes, though knowing him he was just waiting for someone to think he was sleeping so he could surprise them.

I decided that it would be perfectly safe to do the same and lay back and closed my eyes on the grass.

* * *

 **(Asuna, 9:30pm)**

Geez, those two say they're fine and get enough sleep but the moment they closed their eyes they fell asleep.

"Someone needs to take care of those two." I said quietly "they claim to be okay but the moment the close their eyes the fall asleep."

I walked over towards them and started to wave a hand over Kirito's face, but the moment my hand was over his face his hand flew up at a ridiculous speed and grabbed my wrist and I jumped back with a small scream in surprise.

"Geez, were you asleep and woke up or pretending to be asleep?" I asked.

"Halfway in between." he said and closed his eyes again.

"Hey Leafa, how does Kirito have the fastest reflexes I have ever seen I HIS SLEEP!" I said the last part slightly louder but not loud enough to wake Sinon. I asked Leafa because if I recalled correctly they were siblings.

"Even if his eyes were open it shouldn't have been possible to react or move that fast." I added.

"It is as much a mystery to me as to you, but it probably a big part of the reason he is national kendo champion." she answered.

"He is?" I asked, that part I hadn't known, though if I followed kendo I would probably recognize his face.

She looked over at the sleeping Sinon and the unknown state Kirito, they looked so peaceful, actually Kirito looked peaceful in battle too, no battle cries, no wasted breaths, and calm. His skill with a sword, reaction speed, and ability to remain calm no matter what made him seem super-human, and if I ever had to fight him, I was almost certain I wouldn't even be able to put up a fight for more then a few seconds, like Klein had.

Also he had that ridiculous dual wielding ability, though it was only for katanas and practically unique as he was probably the only one who could pass the requirements.

Anyway seeing them like that I felt the urge to cover them in blankets, but it seemed warm enough and I didn't have any blankets.

"Okay, well they seem to have figured out what they were gonna do to pass the time. So much for them getting enough sleep. Those two have their difficulties messed up, duo kill a floor boss or clear boss dungeons that take about a week for the rest of the people put together in a few days? No problem, get some rest? Impossible." I said.

"So what do we do? I don't think I would fall asleep anytime soon even if I tried." said Klein.

* * *

 **(11:21pm)**

We had been chatting and the next time I looked over in Kirito's direction, he was sitting up, damn he's quiet.

He grabbed Sinon's arm and shook her slightly, and she took about 15 seconds to get her bearings.

"Let's go look at the fireworks?" he asked loud enough for everyone to hear, apparently nobody but me had noticed him get up, which isn't surprising because I only noticed because I was regularly looking over.

"Are they on every floor or just the [Town of Beginnings]?" I asked, as I didn't know.

"There are some on every floor and you can buy some as well, but there are the most on the first floor." he answered.

With his knowledge of the game and intelligence I wouldn't be all that surprised if I found out he helped make the game. Especially sword skills, and his ability to predict where any of the sword skills will go, that alone shows that he knows way more about sword skills then should be possible for a single person who didn't help make the game.

And if he did, which I think he did, I wouldn't hate him, he's trapped in here with us and wouldn't constantly risk his life if he knew that it was a death trap, or let his own sister play.

We all got up and walked towards the [Teleport Gate] and went through in groups of two or three, as that is the most that can comfortably fit on the gate platform.

We all appeared group by group on the first floor and the walked out from the center of the plaza, it was already 11:28 and the fireworks would start any minute now. Supposedly they would shoot out around the edges of the plaza so we shouldn't be in the middle because that would limit the amount of fireworks we can see.

Kirito and Sinon were standing next to each other their hands almost touching, Leafa and Horum were near but not that near, then there was Klein's guild and they were all together and the remaining people were Egil, Lisbeth, Argo, and me in the last group.

We waited and as the clock hit 11:30 fireworks shot up all around the central plaza and Kirito looked like he had an idea. He whispered something to Sinon before picking up Horum and jumping onto the nearest roof, Sinon doing the same for Leafa.

Then they jumped down and repeated the process for Lisbeth and together they hoisted Egil up, I guess they assumed Klein and his guild along with me could get up ourselves, we all proceeded to climb up onto the roof with little difficulty, well I just jumped up like they did, thanks to my high enough [Agility].

We all sat there and watched the fireworks which went for an hour from 11:30pm to 12:30am.

Then once the fireworks stopped Kirito and Sinon jumped off the roof and went through the gate.

Hopefully they were planning to go sleep.

I certainly was.

"Well, bye and goodnight guys!" I said and also jumped off the roof, heading in the direction of the teleport gate.

* * *

 **This chapter being over 5k words makes up for the last one being only 2k.**

 **Sorry if it is a little bit fluffy but I wanted to include the other characters but them all partying (like a combat party where their health bars showed up) seemed improbable so I decided to make them have a party-ish (the kind with drinks and stuff) instead.**

 **I also wanted a New Year's Eve chapter.**

 **Well anyway, it is 2:30am again so I should probably go sleep, I need to fix my sleep schedule, it is seriously messed up, badly.**

 **Also please do tell me why I can't seem to find chapters 1-14 of SAO Volume 15 and only chapters 15-17.**

 **Leave reviews and tell me what you think, it helps, if nobody had reviewed then I would have long stopped from bothering to update this story daily.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	17. Chapter 17: Vampire

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Hi, another chapter of this, also I am considering re-uploading all the chapters but under a different name, if I do I will release an update giving the name.**

Chapter 17: Vampire

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, 2023, January 1st, 1:34pm)**

Not like I would admit it to them, but they might be right about the whole sleep thing.

I woke up at like midday, which is WAY later then people normally wake up. Though after sleeping for like 11 hours I did feel better, though I rarely good sleep more then 6 hours due to nightmares, though I got them less here, whether it was the lack of people constantly reminding her or Kirito, she didn't care.

Kirito and I were currently where we usually were, the latest boss dungeon.

Specifically the 18th level of the 18th boss dungeon, fighting against oversized bugs and bats.

"I can't wait to get off this stinky floor, I now hate bugs!" I yelled smashing a bat by hitting it with my bow and then finishing it off with my dagger.

"So do I." muttered Kirito back, finishing off another scorpion.

"If these bugs had insides then I wouldn't be able to fight on this floor." I said, shuddering at the image in my mind.

"Just one more level." said Kirito from around the corner probably having found the stairs, when I turned the corner I saw that he had indeed found the stairs.

"Let's get this over with already. I never want to see another bug in my life!" I said.

With that I followed him up the stairs, we were annoyed to find it to be almost exactly the same as the last one.

We walked and found that this floor seemed to have more bats and less bugs, which is always nice.

The bats were larger then they were at the bottom and had large fangs. If they bit you they inflicted a debuff which drained your health and blurred your vision.

They also regained some health whenever they hit you, which could be guessed by their name [Vampire Bats], but all in all we could generally kill them in one or two hits so they found themselves at full or no health generally, we also avoided getting hit. Our progress was fast, though not as fast as I would have liked but by the rate we were moving we would be stuck here till like 3pm at latest.

"We seem to be going in a large circle around the center of the labyrinth." said Kirito after checking his map.

"Hopefully we get out of here soon, if not we can let someone else finish searching." I whined.

"Quit whining, if we let someone else finish we'll ruin our reputation of finding all the bosses." Kirito answered.

"Ahh, fine, but let's move faster, like physically walk faster." I said picking up my pace.

"Sure." said Kirito also moving faster, we didn't really have strategy for killing the bats other then 'I shoot them while Kirito slashes them' so switching to a dagger and just running and slashing any that got in our way wasn't a problem, after a little bit we had tens or hundreds even of bats chasing us, how did we plan to deal with them? Using the AOE attacks of the 'fire' part of my bow and Kirito's sword.

"Hey, Sinon, this might not have been the best of ideas." said Kirito running next to me.

"I think it's fine, we have teleport crystals ready if things go south anyway." I answered, mostly reassuring myself.

Kirito checked his map and said "This is practically the only place left and judging by the width of the passages there can't be more then a few hundred meters."

"Good." I said, running like this wasn't a problem because this was a game and we were very high level.

We ran a couple hundred meters and turned a few corners and saw the stairs to the 20th level "There it is!" yelled Kirito pointing out the obvious.

We ran up the stairs, me going slightly further then he did and both turned around.

I drew my bow, fire side up, and Kirito's sword lit with blazing flames, an ability with long cooldown. Kirito then swung his sword and all the fire flew off flying straight into the swarm of bats.

The [Brimstone] and thus the [Frostfire] had a chance to explode on shot, and with [Charge Shot] just like freezing chance increased so did the explode chance.

While the bats were busy burning alive I drew back a [Charge Shot] and fired. I aimed for one relatively close to the middle of the clump so when the arrow hit because they were all weakened by Kirito's cursed flames, they all got killed.

"That... worked?" asked Kirito, slightly tired from the running.

"I think so." I said.

"Should we scout the boss, see if he is the same as the beta? I mean it is still early and we won't have anything else to do." suggested Kirito.

"Sure, but let's be carful, it IS a floor boss." I said while pulling out a teleport crystal, Kirito doing the same.

Kirito walked up to the door and pushed it open.

The boss room was the same as last time but when I looked at the boss's name it was slightly different, probably a different scramble of Count Dracula, boss's name was [Ucaln Uocadtr].

"Looks like it is the same boss, or close. I'll keep it off us, you freeze a wing." Kirito said to me before pulling out his own bow.

He started repeatedly using the [Rapid Fire] skill whenever the boss swooped in to keep it off us while I took aim, I got my bow ready and said "Next time it charges let it charge, it will be easy to hit that way."

"Okay, but be careful." he said and got ready.

The bat swooped in and dived at me, I aimed not at its head but a little to the right, to hit its left wing.

The arrow zoomed forward and slammed into the wing freezing it. Then Kirito jumped in front of me to block its momentum, but the boss fell short anyway.

Then Kirito ran forward and began slashing at the boss, like the last time it easily reached one of four bars, then like last time it was covered in light and when the light cleared it was replaced by a vampire called [Count Dracula].

Kirito and the boss both rushed forward, Kirito drawing his second sword in the process, after a fraction of a second they clashed, closer to the boss's side so Kirito was faster.

Parry up, scrape, dodge down, strike up, parry left, block left, strike up-left, their blades kept clashing and clashing, Kirito only getting scratched while the boss's HP drained away at a steady pace. Kirito's ring practically useless because he was getting hit by lots of weak attacks and not slow strong ones.

"Sinon, some help?" he called to me snapping me out of my daze.

I drew back my bow and activated the [Rapid Fire] skill with my the frost side of the bow.

The boss tried to dodge but a few hit it, apparently this was all Kirito needed as his sword got surrounded by cursed flames—though much closer to the blade then when he launched a wave of fire—and he ran forward running the boss through with his sword. The fire almost crawled off his sword and onto the vampire, starting to drain his health rather quickly.

Then Kirito used the ring he got as LAB for the 16th boss to freeze the boss's feet in place and slashed out at him repeatedly, draining away the bosses hp.

The boss hit one quarter on its final bar and wings sprouted from its back, it flew up and the ice shattered.

It dashed at Kirito and he dodged.

All Kirito had to do was survive until the fire from his sword killed the boss, but he kept landing any scrapes he could, burning the boss to cinders.

I drew back my bow to fire a [Rapid Fire] at the boss in hopes of hitting its wings.

The arrows flew in a storm and one hit a wing, causing the boss to scrape the ground and tumble.

Kirito ran over and decapitated the boss, finishing its last 5% HP.

Kirito then collapsed on the floor and said "That was tough."

"Yeah, no kidding look at your HP." I told him, having noticed that Kirito's hp wasn't doing that much better then the dead boss's HP, being in the high red.

"Oh yeah, totally missed that." he said drinking a potion.

"So what's the LAB" I asked him.

"[Soul-Eater's Blade], the sword gains EXP whenever you kill something with it. It has a max level that would make it good till at least the 50th floor if not farther. On top of that I gain a fraction of the damage I do with it back in healing. It also gains fire, water, wind, or earth souls in different quantities from any kills, depending on the type and power of the monster. The souls can be used for special abilities." he said.

It took me a moment to process, but this was a sword that would last him until the **50th floor**? Overpowered much.

"Kirito, that's more over powered then your shadow phase whatever it was." I said.

"So is your bow by the way." he pointed out.

"Which part?" I asked, knowing full well that both parts were over powered, but the first side more so, at least as support.

"Both." he answered.

"Shall we take a little break? I mean we did duo kill a floor boss didn't we. We deserve a break." I said.

"You know, know one ever stopped us from taking breaks, the only people who cared were trying to get us to take breaks, and anyway, let's activate the gate on the next floor." he said starting to walk to the beam of light.

"Good point." I said quietly before following him.

We appeared on the plains covered 19th floor and sighed, so much nicer then the previous dark and gloomy floor.

"Let's hope there are no bugs." I said.

"Yep, I'm about sick of them." he answered before activating the gate, then we took off at a run to avoid any curious people that might come through right away.

After a bit of running on the grass we reached a place with a nice stream and green grass.

I decided to stop here, and the best way to do that was to...

I jumped onto Kirito and tackled him and we tumbled to the ground, rolling on top of each other.

eventually we can to a stop and I got off his back and lay on my back next to him.

"This is nice and fun, I feel sleepy." I said though the last part was quiet, closing my eyes, knowing full well that I would probably fall asleep in seconds.

* * *

 **(Asuna, 3:35pm)**

 _"The next floor boss has been killed, I haven't confirmed who killed it but as there was no boss raid meeting it was likely Kirito and Sinon and only the two of them."_ that was the contents of the message that I received from Argo while I was grocery shopping. What I wasn't the strongest at fighting so I decided to get into cooking so I can at least have a relatively good time in here. I should probably make some sandwiches for them before I go track the down.

* * *

 **(4:03pm)**

I teleported onto the 19th floor, and it was really nice compared to the 18th one. Kirito and Sinon complained about having to fight a bunch of giant bugs in the 18th boss dungeon and had said they never wanted to see bugs again at some point.

I went into my menu and went to my friend list.

I saw that they were in some unknown place on this floor and they weren't moving.

I decided I would head over before they start moving because I would have trouble keeping up with them in the long run (literally).

It took me about 10 minutes to get there and what I saw was a place with nice, green grass and a stream and a... sleeping Sinon and Kirito—though the latter was probably on high alert at the same time—next to each other and holding hands, and a place where the grass was pushed down as if they rolled over it, which judging by their age and actions outside of important situations wasn't all that unlikely.

I started walking over quietly but I made one slightly louder step and Kirito sat up and instantly faced me then said "Oh, just you."

"You two are crazy." I said, deciding not to comment on the fact that their pass time was napping despite what they said about how they got plenty of sleep.

"How so?" he asked quietly and then added "please be quiet, Sinon is sleeping."

"And you two said how you got plenty of sleep." I said.

"Well, Sinon can't really get much more then 6 hours of sleep at a time anyway, so it isn't like we can do anything about it." he answered.

"Why not?" I asked, already knowing the answer because they already told me when we partied up on the ninth floor.

"You know already, you expression says it." he said.

I just nodded "Anyway back to why we are crazy?" he asked.

"Because you two just **duo killed a floor boss.** That might as well be the definition of insane, or suicidal." I said.

"How do you know it was just us?" he asked.

"You're the only people crazy enough to go in without a full raid group and you couldn't have gotten a full raid group without a meeting. And if there was a meeting I would have heard of it." I said.

"Okay, you got us, but we were just planning on scouting it but we ended up killing it. During the beta we duo killed that boss as well, though the drop was different, the boss itself was almost the same, just a bit stronger. Also here is a fact even Argo might not know, during the beta test, neither Sinon or I died a single time." he said.

The whole thing was shocking, they planned to scout it and killed it on accident? They never died during the beta?

At this point Sinon stirred a bit and got up looking around. It took her longer then Kirito to get her bearings but she was quick, why would she be able to make up that fast.

"Hey Asuna." said Sinon masking her almost certain surprise very well.

"Hey Sinon, anyway now that both of you are awake, I brought sandwiches!" I said.

When I said sandwiches they both turned to me and asked ""Can we have some?""

Apparently they liked my cooking...

"Sure." I said and took them out of my inventory tossing one to each of them.

They unwrapped them and ate them, deliberately slowing down so that they lasted longer, but they still finished way before I did.

"You know there are more." I said quietly taking a pair more sandwiches out of my inventory and tossing it to them.

"You two are weird, one moment you are completely concentrated and focused and the next you are acting like normal teenagers your age." I said.

""And you act like you're our mother."" they said at once.

"Someone has to stop you two from getting yourselves killed." I said.

""Unlikely."" they said at the same time.

Then Kirito added "And anyway, none of the stuff you do really increases our chance of survival, except possibly making us want to survive more, but I think we have abundant will to live already."

"Whatever." I said.

"Anyway, Kirito, Sinon, I wanted to ask you two a question, I got invited to the guild Knights of the Blood Oath—one of the major clearing guilds incase you didn't know—as second in command, but I don't know if I should join." I asked them about it.

"If you want to join, join, if you don't, don't. In this case there really isn't a 'should'." said Kirito.

What did I want? I wanted to join the guild, I was just worried that I would be abandoning my friends by doing it, but they were okay with it, I would just need to make sure to take some time off to take care of these two.

"Okay, thanks." I said and opened my message menu and selected Heathcliff, then I sent a message saying _"I think I'll take you up on your offer to join your guild."_ I got a reply within seconds saying _"Great, let's meet later today."_

"Well, I'll be seeing you, by the way, if you take the rest of the day off I'll make you lunch tomorrow." I said, hoping it would keep them from doing anything crazy, though I planned to make them lunch regardless of what they did.

They just nodded and lay back down, Sinon falling asleep almost instantly.

* * *

 **(Sinon, 7:03pm)**

When I woke up from my 'short nap' the beautiful Aincrad sun was setting. Then I realized, if the sun was setting that meant I had been asleep about 3 hours. I looked over and saw Kirito still 'sleeping'. It was a good thing they had slept so long because otherwise they may have been tempted to go look for the next dungeon and not get lunch from Asuna tomorrow.

Asuna's food was definitely worth taking a day off for, especially if they had already killed a floor boss today.

I decided to sleep some more, so I sub-consciously nudged a bit closer to Kirito and closed my eyes.

The next time I opened them it was around 10pm and she was in her bed in their inn room, Kirito had probably carried her here.

They had taken the rest of the day off which meant they would get lunch tomorrow from Asuna.

* * *

 **Asuna bribes Kirito and Sinon with food...**

 **Remember Kirito and Sinon are like 15 and 14 right now, that is generally in anime a pretty childish age, though not so much in real life.**

 **I finished a chapter at only a little before 1am, so I can go to bed at human and not bat time today.**

 **I guess I killed my inner bat with that boss fight.**

 **Not much else to say today.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	18. Chapter 18: Milestone

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **You guys are nice.**

 **I don't think I got a single just hate review, though I did get one which was very brutal about being helpful, but still helpful.**

 **Also tell me if there is too much/not enough fluff and also whether I have enough skipping or not enough.**

Chapter 18: Milestone

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, January 17th, 4:04pm)**

We were in 25th boss dungeon and clearing it was taking forever, like almost a week and we were on the 17th level.

Why? Because there were tonnes of traps to watch out for, it was bigger then all the other dungeons, and the enemies—though there were fewer then in a normal dungeon so you never had to fight more then two at once and generally not more then one—were all large ogres and trolls with the power of a mini-boss on floor 20.

So all but the stronger parties would have trouble killing **one** of the enemies in this dungeon, to put in comparison how much was needed to clear this dungeon, Sinon and I had already killed somewhere in the 40-50 range. The only upsides were that they weren't gross, and that they gave good drops and exp.

The dropped their weapons, which while too big to use were made of good material and blacksmiths would buy them for a hefty price to melt them down.

They also directly dropped a lot of col, so we were rich and high level. I was already at 61 and Sinon was at 58. We had each gotten somewhere near ten levels from this boss dungeon. The main reason this was slower was because we needed to take breaks after every single fight, I was scared of what the boss could be with this level of difficulty of the dungeon, though unlike the rest of the players I knew that this difficulty up wasn't permanent but just every 25 floors.

Currently we were just walking and not fighting. I was using my [Soul Eater's Katana] and my [Dark Embers Blade] my armor turned into [Cloak of Empty Void] the moment we killed the 20th floor boss and it was basically another improved version of the previous one, with some extra abilities I'll explain later. Sinon was using her [Frostfire] bow which was getting sort of weak by now and she would need a new one soon and the [Cat Ranger's Armor] which was the LAB from the 19th floor boss and gave a massive [Agility] boost and a large [Archery] boost.

"Kirito, there is another one." said Sinon from next to me, pointing to another [Cave Ogre].

They were such a pain because they had a bunch of HP. At least they were slow-strong and not fast-weak so my ring was really good against them and in general it was easy to avoid getting hit, for us that is. For others it was hard because while the ogres had long delay between attacks, the attack moved very fast, which meant if you couldn't read their preparations it would be hard to dodge. What made them easy to dodge was that they completely telegraphed the attacks they were going to use and attack infrequently, so if you knew how to read them they were very easy to dodge. The only thing that made their HP bearable was that they had a jewel on their neck which was their weak point and it only took something like 15 good blows to it to kill the ogres, though they were fairly tall making it difficult to hit.

"Okay, another **boring** , and painstaking fight about to begin." I said and began to run at the ogre and activating a piercing jump attack straight at the jewel, it was a good way to open but wouldn't work for anybody but me because they almost always successfully attack you with their swords and maces when you do that, but for me it passes through me and wasting one charge to weaken the enemy right away was okay because we fight less then 5 of them per hour, thankfully.

My right sword (which was the soul eater one) pierced into the jewel and then I triggered an earth soul special attack which boosted the damage greatly—the reason I used an earth soul was because it was the kind of soul I got most of when I fought these guys—and crippled the boss slightly, making its slow movements slower.

Then I jumped back and started slashing at the ogres arms when it tried to strike and legs with my swords while Sinon repeatedly shot the weak point with the frost side of her bow—while the special effects were of the respective bows the damage from both sides was the same, which was slightly higher then the original [Brimstone] and quite a bit higher then the original [Blizzard]—to freeze the ogre. Apparently when the jewel is hit with a freeze or burn type attack it effects the whole ogre, which meant that if Sinon froze the jewel the ogre was a piece of cake. Though unfortunately it still takes a lot of hits to kill.

One of Sinon's arrows hit and had its maximum freezing effect and the whole ogre slowed to a crawl, I jumped up onto its arm which it was trying to block the arrow with and unleashed a barrage of attacks on its jewel, killing it.

"Phew, that's one more giant ugly ogre down. Usual drops, nothing useful except for selling." I said. The metal from their weapons made top-grade gear, though not as good as theirs, it was some of the best metal of which there was a lot of. There were some metals of which there existed only enough to make a single sword or something of the like, but they were, well, rare... obviously.

Then before she could answer we heard foot steps coming from the way we came and saw...

A group from the KBO— **K** nights of the **B** lood **O** ath (I know it is abbreviated differently normally but this makes more sense to me)—and the party leader was none other then their second-in-command, Asuna, who we hadn't gotten many chances to see after she joined the guild a few weeks ago.

Upon seeing them it looked like she was trying to keep herself from running forward and instead said happily "I figured it would be you two, you're the only people who could clear such a long path through the ogres."

""Hey Asuna, long time no see."" said Sinon and I in response, she decided not to tease us when there were a bunch of relatively high-ranking and strong players from her guild around.

"So what brings you here?" I asked.

"Well, we were planning to go search the labyrinth but ended up just following the trail of death you two left behind." she answered.

"Sorry... were you planning on making stuff out of their drops? We can sell some of the drops if you want." I said awkwardly rubbing the back of my head.

"No, most of our non-trainee members have better gear anyway, at least weapons. We were here to try and find the boss, hardly fair to keep making you two map out the whole dungeon every time." she answered.

"If you people want to take a break there is a safe-zone if you go back the way you came and take the first right it will be right there." I said, implying that I wanted Asuna to have her party 'take a break' so we can talk a bit.

After all, other then our small group of friends, plus a few individual people, most people didn't really like us, by which I mean, there are a lot of them who would probably kill us if they could, and could get away with it without turning orange. This was probably thanks to Kibaou.

"You may go rest." Asuna said in a tone of voice that replaced the 'may' with a 'will'.

Then the person who was probably the second-in-command of the group—which was about 3 parties—or something along those lines said "Asuna-sama, you should not be alone around these selfish scum who care for nothing other then themselves!"

We tried to keep ourselves from laughing at the fact that they used 'sama' after her same, but couldn't and sniggered slightly.

Then he yelled "What are you laughing at?"

Over Sinon's slight laughter I said, also slightly laughing still "Asuna- **sama**? You call her Asuna- **sama**?" putting emphasis on sama.

"Selfish, disrespectful scum! Don't you dare disrespect our second-in-command."

"What part of mapping the dungeons, continuously risking their lives to help clear the game, saving everybody they see in danger by placing their own lives at risk despite the fact that everybody hates them, and doing the most damage at every single boss fight is selfish. Even if they do gain something from it, everybody else gains a heck-of-a-lot more then they do. You on the other hand have not been at more then one or two boss fights and not risked your life even once more then necessary in this death game." Asuna said angrily not giving us a chance to laugh at him.

He tried to shrink himself under her glare and then took the rest of the group and retreated to the safe-zone.

"Don't you think you were a little brutal with that?" Sinon asked.

"I don't think so, and anyway, you're the people he hates, why would you be kind to them. Everybody hates you though you continuously do the most and help them, how is that remotely fair? It isn't." Asuna answered.

"Anyway, why do they call you 'sama'? This is a video game, with video game names. For example we don't use honorifics at all in here." I said.

"Well, they don't know and this is a bit embarrassing but, my Asuna is actually my real name, this was my first MMO and I didn't know you weren't supposed to use your real name. But why they call me 'sama' I have no idea." Asuna answered.

"Isn't it obvious that you shouldn't tell everybody in this game your real name?" asked Sinon.

"Well sorry." said Asuna overflowing with sarcasm.

"Anyway, so what did you want to talk about?" I asked.

"Can't a girl want to see her friends?" asked Asuna.

"Also, I was hoping to meet you today, that's why I brought sandwiches." she said, and the expressions we made at the thought of her sandwiches were probably the the desired reaction.

"You can have them if you are taking proper precautions and making sure you don't die." she added.

"Yes we are, we haven't really lost practically any HP at all in this dungeon and have never been in the yellow in here." Sinon said hurriedly.

"And you have to promise that you will NOT try to duo kill this boss." she said.

""Yes."" we both said, not that we were planning too, after all, we new from the difficulty of the dungeon that the boss would be ridiculous.

"Okay, here you go." she said, giving us both sandwiches which we immediately started to eat.

It only took us about a minute to finish our sandwiches and then she asked "So how has the world been treating you?"

"Fine enough, though I'm about sick of looking at these ogres' ugly mugs." said Sinon expressing her dissatisfaction.

"Though with the number we have killed, we are almost certainly the richest people in this world." I said.

"That is quite likely. How many have you killed?" said Asuna.

"About 50." I said.

"50?!" asked Asuna surprised.

"What?" Sinon asked.

"The whole KBO put together has killed less then that." Asuna answered.

"Well, then maybe they should try being more useful, KBO has like 20-30 players right now doesn't it?" I said.

"Ouch." said Asuna "Not everyone can be super human like you."

"Okay, okay." I said.

"So how have you been?" Sinon asked Asuna.

"Being second-in-command is drag, so tiring, so little sleep. Half-regretting joining the guild, but I hope that soon we will start doing more for the front lines and you two can stop carrying the whole clearing group." she answered.

"Well if we stopped doing that what else would we do?" Sinon asked.

"Well if you wouldn't stop when you could stop then we would get out of here faster, either way, you two should be able to take a break every now and then." Asuna answered.

"We do take breaks, occasionally." I said.

"Key word 'occasionally', when was the last time you two took a day off?" Asuna asked.

"The first of January we took the second half of the day off." said Sinon.

"That doesn't count, you killed a floor boss that day. The whole day off?" Asuna answered.

"Okay, Christmas then." Sinon said.

"See? That is almost a month ago." Asuna said.

"We'll be fine, anyway unless you have some ideas for something fun to do we aren't taking a day off. And anyway, everyone else is constantly taking a day off which is why we can't, or they might as well be given the amount of work they do." Sinon said.

"You could go to... my house and I can teach you too cook." Asuna said.

""..."" Sinon and I sighed.

"Yeah, I guess not." she said.

"Well for now let's just keep working, let's see how terrible those men are. By the way, starting with this floor, some of the trolls started going berserk when their HP red, as for the ogres we have yet to see one go berserk." Sinon said.

"Okay fine." Asuna said "I'll message them to come."

She then opened her menu and sent a message to them to come.

About a minute later they showed up, and sent Sinon and I death glares, or their pathetic attempts at death glares.

"It seems we get a free training session from the two best players." Asuna said.

"How do we know they won't just ditch us in the middle of a fight?" asked the same guy as before.

"I find it more likely that you'd ditch them in a fight, also did we not come here to fight on our own, so even if they left, we would just be doing what we originally planned." Asuna said.

"Fine." he snarled and sent us another 'death glare'.

"Okay then, let's start by not wasting time standing around and going to look for the next stairs." I said, trying to keep Asuna from making her men hate her in a failed attempt to make them not hate us.

Then I turned and started walking without even making sure they were following, then Asuna and Sinon almost immediately followed and judging by their—ridiculously loud—foot steps they followed with some hesitation.

After about half an hour we ran into a [Cave Troll], they were similar to the ogres but had a club as a weapon and were generally weaker, but didn't have weak point like the ogres, all in all they were more annoying for us to kill but for most others they would be easier.

"So, do you and your men fight and we give help from the side or do we all fight together, because in that case your men will probably get in the way." I asked Asuna.

"I was thinking of the former, at least it is a way to get you two to take a break." she answered.

"Alright, well do your thing then." I said.

"Okay! Let's take down this troll, remember it has slow but very strong attacks so try to dodge them even if you have heavy armor unless there are at least 3 people who it will hit at the same time. The troll is briefly stunned after attacking, regardless of hit or miss, when that happens heavier players attack the legs and agility players attack the stomach. Starting on this level, some of the trolls will go berserk when their HP gets low, so if that happens tanks need to focus completely on defense." Asuna said.

Their whole group charged forward tanks at the front, agility players flanking to the side. The tanks put their shields in a row and blocked the troll's first strike, then the players other then the ones which got hit—who used health potions—started attacking the legs and stomach, though Asuna generally aimed for the neck as she had a high enough [Agility] to reach it consistently.

After 3 repetitions the troll's HP entered the red, suddenly its whole skin turned red and glowed slightly.

"It has gone berserk!" Asuna yelled and jumped back "All tanks on defense!"

The tanks lined up for defense but the way the troll swung its club, it hit them one by one and sent the all to the ground and into the yellow with respect to HP, then the troll got another attack ready and was about to smack down on them.

"Sinon!" I called to her, but she was already on it, drawing back her bow and shooting, hitting the troll's eye.

Because of being blind in one eye, the troll's attack missed just applying a minor stun to them.

I ran forward and jumped up, slashing across the troll's throat, then spinning a full circle and slashing it again, finishing my combo with a stab straight through the throat. Bringing the troll down to about 3% hp.

"Sinon, finish it!" I called to Sinon and dropped to the ground just as an arrow flew right over my head and slammed into the poor troll's throat, then exploded killing it.

"Well that is disappointing. Your defense would have been good if the attack came straight from the front, but the way the troll was positioned it would attack at a slight angle so you should have turned you line of defense to match." I said.

Asuna sighed "Well thanks for being here." then walked over and whispered sadly to me "Though they probably still hate you."

"Shall we go try another?" Sinon asked, already turning to walk away.

I sent a glance to Asuna and followed after Sinon.

After about 10 minutes of walking we ran into an ogre and began killing it, me without using my second sword because it was considerably weaker and I didn't want to risk that group seeing it.

About half way through the fight in about 5 minutes the group showed up and watched in awe as Sinon and I killed the ogre without getting hit at all, dashing all around it.

Once I dealt the finishing blow to the jewel, I dropped to the ground, sheaved my sword and turned to them, who had their mouths wide open.

Then one of them muttered "Wow."

"Let's keep going?" I asked Sinon who just nodded and we started walking away.

* * *

 **(3:11am)**

"Anndd... last one!" I exclaimed tiredly after killing the last ogre between us and the boss level. Then I dropped to the floor back to back with Sinon.

"Let's go home, I feel like falling asleep on the spot." said Sinon.

"First let's go activate the teleporter so we don't have to fight through here again." I said getting up and pulling Sinon up with me.

We leaned on each other slightly as we walked to the stairs, up the stairs, and onto the teleporter.

"Teleport Chirmal" I said with as clearly as I could.

After we teleported we walked still leaning on each other to our inn and collapsed onto our beds.

* * *

 **(Asuna, January 18th, 12:05pm)**

I was on the 15th floor to scold Sinon and Kirito for staying out late because I know they did, and if they didn't, well then I could just pay them a visit.

I walked into the inn they were staying at and up to their room.

I knocked and after about 15 seconds a sleepy-looking Sinon in combat gear opened the door.

The only reason Sinon would be sleepy and in combat gear is that they came back so late they forgot to take off their gear.

"When did you two come back last night?" I asked, knowing I probably didn't want to hear it.

"Somewhere around 3am I think." muttered Sinon. Wait 3am? The latest they have stayed out before was like 1am.

"We found the boss room." she added. Oh that explains why they stayed out, just like them to stay out until they finished off the last bit.

I walked into the room and noticed how small it was.

"Why don't you get a house or a fancier room? You two probably have a stupid amount of money by now right?" I asked.

"We basically don't to anything but sleep here anyway and the beds are comfortable. Also, can your guild arrange a boss raid meeting... tomorrow? You can have the credit for finding the boss room, we get plenty of attention." she answered.

"What? No way am I taking the credit for something I basically had no part in!" I exclaimed, even if they didn't mind, I did.

"Okay, but what about the boss meeting, in terms of combat strength you are the strongest guild so it shouldn't be a problem for you?" she said.

"Yeah, no problem. Also I brought you two some sandwiches because otherwise you'll just go buy the cheapest thing. Why do you guys use so little money, with the amount you use you might as well be some of the poorest people, despite being the richest."

"It's totally not that you made more sandwiches then you can eat... but thanks. I'll try not to eat Kirito's." she said.

"Nope, not trusting you not to do that, he should probably wake up by now anyway." I said walking over to Kirito to wake him up.

I waved my hand over his face but he didn't wake up, I guess when he is somewhere completely safe he actually sleeps.

I grabbed his blanket and pulled it off, causing him to wake up surprisingly calmly then said "Good morning, Asuna."

"Good morning, I brought you two sandwiches." I said taking the sandwiches out of my inventory and passing half to him and half to Sinon.

"Thanks." he said and started eating the sandwich, Sinon doing the same.

"Well, I'll be going, gonna go arrange a meeting for the boss fight." I said then just as I was exiting the door ""Bye."" they both said and I waved back before leaving.

Now time to head to guild HQ and get the meeting set up.

The current HQ was a tiny fort on the 24th floor and it was around half an hours walk from the gate so I arrived at around 12:40.

I walked into the main meeting room to find the Commander, Heathcliff, already there.

"Hello Commander, Kirito and Sinon found the boss again and asked me to arrange a boss meeting for tomorrow." I said.

"They found another boss? Okay, I'll send out messages to all the major guild leaders and send someone to put up some announcements." he answered.

"Right." I said.

* * *

 **(Sinon, January 19th, 12:57pm)**

We were currently waiting for the boss meeting to start, it should starting in around 3 minutes and would be hosted by the KBO.

After 3 more minutes everyone who would be here was here and the meeting got started. Surprisingly Asuna was the one who came out on stage.

"Two days ago a group of independent players found the boss room." she said and instantly everybody heads turned to Kirito and I, we pointedly ignored them and kept looking at Asuna.

"Yesterday, my party and I scouted the boss and found that it was similar to the ogres in the 25th boss dungeon, but has 4 arms and 2 heads. It has a large spiked hammer in each of its four hands and has a jewel similar to the ones on the normal ogres in between the two necks. Even if one of its strikes hits the ground next to you, you will take considerable damage and be thrown far from the boss fast enough to take extra damage and be stunned. The force behind a full on hit will probably be ridiculous and everyone will have to dodge, blocking does not seem to be an option." Asuna said.

After a breath Asuna continued "The boss seems to strike once with each hand in rapid succession and then stands still allowing it to be hit. Once the boss reaches the low health it will likely go berserk, increasing the attack and speed by sacrificing defense. This will be by far the most difficult boss fight yet so we must be prepared."

Then finally she added "We will be departing from here tomorrow at 1pm, so everyone use this time to stock up on potions and crystals, both healing and teleport. Prepare for a long battle because this boss on top of its higher hp will likely have ridiculous armor rating. The boss may also have some unknown attacks so bring anti-poison or antidote crystals as well. That's it for the briefing!"

Everyone started to scuttle out, probably to buy supplies.

We already had all our supplies ready at all times so we instead walked up to the stage and to Asuna.

"Nice job." I said and Kirito nodded.

"I was nervous the whole time, I am not the most social person." she answered.

"Well, cya tomorrow?" Kirito asked.

"You bet." she answered and we parted ways.

* * *

 **(January 20th, 1:00pm)**

"Do any parties have members yet to arrive?" asked Asuna loudly.

When no one answered Asuna said "I'll take that for a no. Okay we're heading out, we will be arriving by corridor crystal as fighting through all the ogres and trolls would tire us out before we even got to the boss."

Then Heathcliff who had been standing to the side pulled out what looked like a larger teleport crystal with some gold-bronze metal designs on it. He then said loudly "Corridor open!" and the crystal in his hand shattered, causing what looked like ripples in the air, then a large slightly floating circle out of the same metal as the designs appeared and was first filled with blue, then cleared and was like a window to the 20th level of the boss dungeon. If one were to stand on the other side they would see a similar ring appear there.

"Okay! Onwards!" he said loudly before stepping through the ring.

Everyone including Kirito and I walked though the portal and then after a few more seconds the outer ring shattered and the portal dispersed in ripples.

We were standing in front of the boss door.

Kirito and I walked forward along with Heathcliff and Asuna and pushed open the gigantic door.

On the other side of the door was a super-sized ogre with weapons and number of appendages as described by Asuna yesterday.

"To victory!" yelled Heathcliff charging forth.

Kirito followed after him, while I went in but also stayed a fair distance from the boss, if this was like the ogres then the best thing I could do was to shoot ice arrows at the gem.

I released my [Charge Shot] and it hit the boss as it was already starting to swing at Heathcliff.

The boss was covered in a thin layer of ice that bent with it and its movements were slowed.

Heathcliff dodged the first 3 attacks and blocked the fourth with his shield, getting moved slightly backed.

Meanwhile green points of light were appearing around Kirito's sword and then flying into it, causing it to get greener and start glowing. This was a very powerful earth type charge attack of Kirito's sword, just after the boss's onslaught stopped, Kirito leapt forward and slashed with his sword—currently in two hand grip—at the jewel on the intersection of the boss's necks, then the sword released a green blasted as it passed through the jewel and stopped glowing green.

The boss's hp took quite a dent and it was slowed further.

Then for the next about 3 hours I was constantly shooting at the boss's jewel with ice or explosive arrows depending on whether it was currently frozen or not.

Meanwhile Kirito would slash at any part of the boss that presented itself, primarily the jewel.

The boss had finally reached the yellow in its last bar and suddenly it let out a huge roar that threw most of the people back, then its skin started to glow red.

"""It's gone berserk!""" yelled Kirito, Asuna, and I at the same time.

Kirito and Heathcliff—the only two people not launched away by the roar—jumping back just as the boss released a stream of 4 attacks that even Heathcliff wouldn't have been able to withstand and then paused.

During this pause I decided to try a new ability my bow had gotten, if I hold it with about 5° of horizontal and used [Charge Shot] it released a Frostfire arrow which should cause the whole boss to burn with blue flames, slowing its movement, dealing damage, and slightly reducing defense.

Then Kirito—who had charged a full elemental attack with his sword, causing it to glow bright white—activated a piercing leap and his sword slammed into the boss's neck jewel, causing its HP to drain to zero, killing it.

Then Kirito also collapsed to the ground, this was because the specific attack he had used also drained his HP, a lot.

But even though I knew he was fine I still ran over to him.

"Hey Kirito, you okay?" I asked.

"Yep, perfectly fine. Did we lose anyone?" he asked.

"One person, I don't know what happened to him." I said, thankful that I hadn't seen it because I might have frozen up.

"Okay." he said and got up.

We could hear cheering but decided not to participate, walking right through the beam of light.

After the usual teleport light we appeared in the main city of the 26th floor, after activating the gate we used it to teleport to the 15th floor and went to our inn room.

Then I remembered that I still hadn't asked Kirito about the LAB.

"So what did you get as LAB?" I asked.

"The [Gem Armor], it is a heavy armor set with ridiculous defense, but it has a gem on its chest and if you get hit in that gem you take massive damage. Seems very good for a tank as I can't really picture monsters going after the gem, though in a duel it wouldn't be that good. We should probably sell it to someone, or give it to Horum, since he is a heavy armor user." he answered.

It wasn't that surprising but it was a good item, though useless to both of them.

* * *

 **Long chapter again today, this should bring me over 60k words!**

 **Thanks for all the positive reviews, it is really encouraging.**

 **Please leave your opinion of the story as a review**

 **Special thanks to Crimiduck, Gadget Boy, and Reaper2908 for reviewing almost every single chapter!**

 **Also though I made two longer chapters near each other doesn't mean I am switching to 5k word chapters, sorry if I got your hopes up, but I don't got the time.**

 **But I think I update at a satisfactory rate, somewhere around 2 weeks for 60k words.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	19. Chapter 19: Black Cats Part 1

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Hi I would like to have your opinion for how much detail to you want with the floors for example in the anime it had like 4 boss fights (if you count Kayaba as a boss) (1st, 74th, 75th, 100th) and there weren't many more in the light novel.**

 **I am going to try to make this a not-so-canon chapter.**

 **Also I checked on the wiki and apparently the boss I used as the 25th one was actually the 27th one. Sowwy.**

Chapter 19: Black Cats Part 1

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon,** **February 23rd, 11:03pm)**

As per Asuna's request (read: insistence) Kirito and I were taking a break.

By taking a break I mean, we were on the 14th floor on a puzzle-ish quest that required us to go through a dungeon, which for us was trivial.

Then suddenly we heard somebody scream "Somebody HELP! HELP!"

"Let's go." said Kirito and immediately took off in the direction of the screams.

When we arrived in about ten seconds to see some [Skeletal Knights] pinning down a small group, hopefully still its original size.

Kirito charged forward and killed three of the four in one slash of his katana, then whirling round and killing the last one.

"Are you alright?" he asked the group of 5 players cowering on the ground, all of them in low yellow or red HP.

"Y-yeah." one of them stuttered out.

"T-thanks for saving u-us" said the only girl among them.

"What are your names?" I asked.

"Keita, and I'm the leader of this guild, the Moonlit Black Cats and I use a two handed staff." said one of the two people with heavier armor, the cloth between was brown and red.

"Tetsuo, I'm supposed to be the tank, but clearly I'm not great at it. I use a mace and shield." said the other wearing heavier armor, with purple cloth.

"Sasamaru, I'm a spear user." said the one wearing green with slightly lighter armor then the other previous two.

"Ducker, I'm the thief of the guild and I use a dagger." said the one wearing yellow with a light chest plate under his yellow cloak.

"And the shy one here is Sachi. She is also a spear user." Keita said, introducing the girl wearing blue clothes with only a blue leather chest plate for armor.

"I'm Kirito and this is Sinon." said Kirito, pointing to me while he said the last part.

"So what are two high level players like yourselves doing down here? No one who belongs on this floor could kill those monsters all in one hit." asked Keita.

"Asuna threatened that she won't give us sandwiches for a week if we don't leave the front lines and take a break for at least 3 days." I answered without thinking.

"Wait Asuna? Like the sub-leader of the KBO?" asked Ducker surprised.

"Yeah... her." I muttered.

"Just how high level are you two?" asked Sasamaru.

"I'm 107, she's 102." Kirito said.

Their mouths dropped open in surprise "What are you, like the highest level players?" asked Tetsuo.

""Probably."" Kirito and I said at the same time.

It took about 15 seconds for them to realize that their mouths were open.

Finally Keita asked "Want to come back to the 11th floor with us? We'll treat you to anything."

"We were doing a quest here so we'll finish that up before coming back, you can tag along with us if you don't feel like it is safe for you too go back on your own." I offered, wondering why I did.

"Yeah, thanks." said Keita.

"Okay, you should join our party, we don't get exp for killing these monsters anyway." Kirito said, probably just wanting to see their levels and be able to keep track of their HP.

After sending party invites to each of them and them joining we started walking in the direction we were originally going.

I took note that their levels were all around 25, which was pretty normal for this floor.

The quest we were doing right now required us to find some treasure in here and we found some mysterious symbols around the dungeon on the way here, so there was likely a code lock, fortunately Kirito had perfect memory so even though I couldn't remember them all and maybe got the order wrong we should be fine.

After about 15 minutes of walking and 3 dead groups of skeletons, totaling up to 20 skeletons we found a room with a large door on one side and symbols on the other side in 3x3 grid.

"Sinon, shoot the top right, then the middle, then middle left, then top middle, and then finally bottom right." said Kirito, that was probably the sequence that the symbols showed up in.

I did as he said, with the tiles glowing slightly for a bit when hit and once I shot the 5th one, all the tiles glowed and the glow traced a line up and on the ceiling leading all the way to the door, which then opened.

""Bingo."" said Kirito and I at the same time and gave each other a high five. Meanwhile Black Cats look on in shock.

"How did you know the code? We found this place earlier but couldn't figure out the code." asked Sachi.

"It was literally written on the ceiling throughout the dungeon." Kirito answered.

"Flawless memory man to the rescue." I said just loud enough for Kirito to hear.

He just shook his head at me and turned to the now open door "Let's check it out?" he asked.

"Sure." I said and started to walk through the door.

Once we followed the corridor for a bit it opened up into a large throne room, though it wasn't very well decorated it was clearly a throne room because it had a throne in it. With a skeleton king on it.

"I didn't expect a boss fight." I said.

"Don't worry, this can't be that strong, this is the 14th floor." Kirito said.

Then he ran forward towards the king and slashed out with his sword.

The katana smashed into the sword the king raised just in time and... the kings sword shattered into fragments barely slowing Kirito's katana down.

The katana slash through the king's ribcage and through the gem in the center.

The boss's HP dropped down to near zero and lost its sword and in one strike.

While that surprised even me the Black Cats were once again completely surprised.

Meanwhile Kirito drove his sword through the king's face, killing it.

"I was hoping it would at least put up a fight. Oh well got the quest item, let's head back to the main town and finish the quest." he said.

"Right, come on cats!" I called to the guild that was tagging along with us.

In about half an hour we arrived at the main city on floor 14, we completed the quest which we just did for fun, as the rewards were just some money and exp, but to us both in small amounts.

After that we teleported to the 11th floor and the Black Cats bought us something to drink.

"To Sinon and Kirito, our saviors!" said Keita.

"Cheers!" said the other 4.

"Hey, since you are going to be down here for a few more days, would you mind training us? We want to join the front lines." asked Keita.

"Kirito what do you think?" I whispered to him.

He whispered back "It will be a good way to kill time, and more people are always welcome on the front lines."

"Okay, let's do it then?" I asked quietly.

"Sure." he answered.

"Sure, we'll do it." I said, loudly enough for them to hear this time.

"Okay, first you're going to need another forward. 1 forward for 5 people isn't enough." Kirito said.

"For you to be a balanced party you need another forward person, someone with a shield. That means one of you needs to switch to forward." I added.

They looked around each other until eventually all eyes fell on Sachi "Why me?" she asked quietly.

"Well it's you or Sasamaru and you're currently higher level then him." said Keita.

"Okay..." she sighed.

"Okay that means you need to switch to a one-handed weapon and a shield. The one handed weapon can be any of your choice." I said.

"One handed longsword." she said.

"Okay, that would be easy to arrange, the quest we just did had one as a reward, a pretty good one at that." Kirito said.

Then he went into his inventory and after a bit a silver longsword with gold trim appeared in his hand.

I whistled slightly, I knew that because the boss nearly died in one hit of Kirito's sword that it wasn't anywhere near enough good for someone on the front lines to use, but it is probably one of the stronger longswords on the first 20 floors.

"""""Wow.""""" said all the cats.

"Couldn't you sell it for a lot?" asked Sachi.

"Not compared to the amount we already have. Take it." I answered.

"Okay." she said shyly and took the sword.

"You'll also need a shield, and preferably better armor, but shield is more important." Kirito said.

"Right, so let's go to the market and buy a shield from a blacksmith." Keita said.

"Okay, we'll come to the rest of you, do whatever." I said and grabbed Sachi's hand and started to pull her along, Kirito and Keita following after.

After a few minutes we reached the merchant area, we wouldn't go to Lisbeth's shop because all her stuff was too high level for Sachi.

We found a player blacksmith that made close to the best stuff Sachi could use and bought her a shield and a chest plate.

"Why do I need armor? Neither of you wear armor." Sachi complained, not liking the armor.

"That's because neither of us are tanks, I stay back so he doesn't need to block the monsters, he just needs to avoid dying himself, and for him blocking with his sword and dodging are easier because of his super-human reflexes and awareness of surroundings. Plus he his coat his a surprising amount of defense, probably the best of any armor its weight. Don't take anything we do as an example, then you would end up trying to duo floor bosses or some other crazy thing." I answered.

"You two duo killed a floor boss?" asked Sachi, surprised.

"Once, but we also finished many bosses at their strongest state because I can shoot from a distance and Kirito is very good at dodging. Kirito's current katana is the LAB from the boss we duo killed, the 18th floor boss, the most probable reason it is so good is because he did like 90% of the damage to the boss, so he got a good reward." I said.

"You two are crazy." said Sachi.

""We get that a lot."" said Kirito and I at the same time.

"Also you two say the exact same thing at the exact same time a lot." she said.

""We get that a lot too."" Kirito and I said at the same time.

"Well anyway, let's meet up with the rest of your friends and go test out your new gear, and get you some training." Kirito said.

"And Kirito can teach you to use your sword, how he knows how to fight with practically any sword, regardless of type, I have no idea how." I said, Kirito never tells me when I ask as to why he knows how to fight with any sword or even two swords.

"Yeah, okay." Sachi said.

"Okay, well go ahead and equip your armor and weapons." I said.

"Okay." said Sachi, still not liking the idea of armor.

Sachi went inventory and press some buttons and the armor they bought her appeared over her.

Then the shield appeared on her back and the sword on her side.

The armor and shield were silver and blue while the sword was silver with gold trim.

She took the shield of her back and the drew the sword, getting in what she thought was an appropriate stance, and surprisingly, it was pretty close.

"Let's go back to somewhere there aren't so many people and get started on your training." I said, grabbing Sachi's hand and pulling her along, I tried to grab Kirito's but it was gone by the time my hand reached where it previously was so he followed along with Keita.

We got back to the place where the rest were and found them sitting at the table and Sasamaru holding Ducker in a headlock.

Then Tetsuo said "Nice armor Sachi!"

"Okay, let's have a training session. Send me a duel request." Kirito said.

Sachi did as told and sent him a duel request, he selected half-death and took out some one-handed longsword that looked like nothing special and a nothing special shield.

Then he got in a stance where his sword was ready to strike and his shield covered his body and could quickly be moved to block strikes to feet or head.

"Get in a stance like this." he said and Sachi did her best to mimic his stance, which she did quite well.

"Okay good, now when I strike from some direction you want to angle your shield in such a way that my sword bounces off and not lands squarely, that will take away some of the force of the blow. Strike with your sword and I'll show you." he said.

Sachi ran forward and struck with her sword, activating the longsword skill [Slant].

Kirito angled his shield 45° to her strike and the strike faltered and bounced into the dirt, stunning Sachi.

"Like that, if I was going all out I would follow up with a shield bash to knock you further off balance before striking with me sword." he said.

After Sachi recovered he said "Okay, your turn."

Once Sachi nodded Kirito swung his sword down using but a fraction of his high strength stat so as not to overwhelm her through sheer force.

Sachi angled her shield and Kirito's sword skipped off, though not as cleanly and Sachi got shifted back a bit.

"Good, now let's try again but this time do whatever you can to hit me, don't worry you can't kill me in a half-death duel." he said.

Once Sachi fully recovered "Ready?" he asked.

"Ready." she answered her normally shy voice full of determination.

Kirito ran forward with a fraction of his normal speed and struck at her, she blocked with her shield, though he didn't angle it quite right so his sword bounced into air and not into the dirt, but she didn't panic and followed up with a shield bash to move Kirito's shield out of the way.

The shields collided and They both bounced aside.

Now both of them were open to attack but Sachi's sword was ready and Kirito's was far out to the side.

Not that it would matter if Kirito tried, but it was still better then expected.

Sachi lunged forward with her sword but it was slightly to the side so Kirito dodged and she lunged past him.

Then he swung his sword handle down and hit her with his pommel on the back, sending her to the ground.

"Good job." he said and helped her up.

"Let's go practice on some monsters, come on cats!" I called and we started walking out into the field.

We all walked out and practiced for a few hours, Sachi was surprisingly good at this, other then the fact that sometimes if the monsters looked more horrifying or have more realistic blood lust in their eyes she would freeze up, it was obvious she was scared. She was similar to me, we both couldn't look even the monster trying to kill us in the eye—well I can now, but when I started this I couldn't, which is one of the reasons I barely used my dagger even before I got my bow—but probably for different reasons, mine is because it reminds me of _then_ and for her it is probably just fear of death.

"Sachi, you gotta stop freezing up, if you guard yourself with your shield and trust your teammates you'll be fine." I heard Kirito say.

"Y-yeah, s-sorry." she answered.

I walked over to Kirito and whispered to him "Let me." he just nodded.

I pulled Sachi aside and said "I used to be like you too, I would freeze up when I was fighting, that is one of the reasons I used throwing picks before I got my bow and not my dagger. But I trust Kirito to cover me and I can because I trust him, I'm don't freeze up. You have to trust your teammates to cover you, and you have to protect them." this was half a lie, the reason I didn't freeze was because Kirito, but not because I trusted him to cover me—though I did trust him to cover me—but because I felt comfortable around him and forgot about _then_.

Sachi nodded and we went back.

"Let's keep going!" I said clearly to everyone.

"You two have a brutal training cycle, all work and no rest." complained Ducker.

"You call this brutal? We fight 2 or 3 times longer then this almost every day after the start of this death game." I said.

"How is that even possible?" Keita asked.

"Everything else is boring or maybe we're just crazy and battle hungry, or both." I said.

"Riiiiight... You two don't seem battle hungry, you barely killed anything today." said Keita

"That's because none of the stuff on this floor is worth killing, no fun, no exp, a meaningless amount of col, and useless drops. We sometimes fight from like midday to midnight or later just because we lose track of time like you do when you're having fun, then once we realize what time it is our brains realize we should be tired and we stumble back to our inn and fall asleep before we hit our beds." I said.

"How is it possible to not get tired just because you forget to get tired?" asked Sachi.

"This game has a stamina system but it just means you need to rest for a minute or two every now and then, so there is just mental fatigue, which you can forget about and then it all catches up to you at once (Kinda like when I write this story till late at night and then realize how tired I am)." I said.

"Oh..." Sachi muttered.

"Doesn't that only happen when you're having fun?" asked Keita.

"Didn't I already say? The most fun thing for the two of us is doing stupid and crazy things and fighting the best is combination of both, like fighting mini or field bosses as a duo." I said.

"You two are definitely insane." Sachi said.

"Does it count if you are aware of it?" I asked.

"Possibly, I don't know." she answered.

"I'm tired!" said Tetsuo.

"Fine, lazy bums, we can stop for today, but we start again tomorrow, remember if you want to get our training you only have 3 days counting this one before we go back to the front lines." I said.

* * *

 **Not really cliffhanger.**

 **Another chapter down! Getting closer to the 70k mark, at this rate this story will hit 100k in no time!**

 **Please let me know what you think of my story and tell me how to improve it, I stopped getting reviews telling me how to improve mostly and basically only get things like "Another great chapter" which is really nice but I want to learn to write better, and I don't believe that there is nothing wrong with this story.**

 **Well anyway thanks for all the positive reviews and it is really encouraging!**

 **Next chapter hopefully out tomorrow, though I might miss one this Monday night because I have finals for my Calculus on Tuesday and I want to get a good night's sleep.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	20. Chapter 20: Black Cats Part 2

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **I just got into Unity 'programming' and I am having the stupidest problems, like vectors not doing what they are supposed to do and stuff.**

 **I forgot to ask whether I should make the Black Cats die last chapter so I'll have to decide myself.**

 **Also if you like Kirito x Sinon fanfics read Shared Strength by KnightEstoc, it's really good. He uploads it once every two weeks, and also uploads his other current story once every two weeks. On alternating weeks.**

 **Also 20 chapters! Yay!**

Chapter 20: Black Cats Part 2

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, February 24th, 6:04pm)**

"And with that kill we have enough money to buy ourselves the house we were looking at and still have enough leftover to buy whatever we need!" said Keita to his guild mates while Kirito and I were sitting to the side, I was leaning my head on Kirito's shoulder but he didn't seem to mind.

"I was hoping this would be more fun." I said quietly to Kirito.

"Me too." he whispered back.

"I wish we could find something fun to do that wasn't fighting." I said.

"Yeah, that would be great." he answered.

I closed my eyes to take a nap, leaning on his shoulder was comfortable...

"-non, Sinon, wake up." I heard Kirito saying to me.

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, adjusting to the light level.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked.

"I dunno, about half an hour." he said.

Then he added "You look adorable when you sleep by the way."

I felt blood rush to my face an I looked away.

"Geez." I muttered and realized I was still leaning on his shoulder, I sat up straight an looked at the Black Cats who were horsing around.

"How long are they going to be doing that?" I asked.

"I thought we should either keep training or go back, that's why I woke you up." he answered and got up.

"Okay, enough horsing around, let's go train some more." he then said the Black Cats.

"You two are ruthless, making us train like this while taking a nap." said Ducker.

"Technically I was taking a nap while you were taking a break." I pointed out.

"Whatever." he answered and turned away.

"That's the sign that you admit you're wrong..." I said.

He just made a 'Humph' sound and turned further away.

"Well, let's get going or let's get back to a safe zone so we can leave you guys without worrying about you dying." Kirito said.

"Let's go back?" Keita asked the rest of the cats.

"Sure."

"Okay."

"Fine."

"Whatever you say..." they all said, the last one being of course Sachi.

"Looks like we're heading back." Keita said to us.

"Okay then, let's go." said Kirito and turned in the direction of the main town.

We arrived at the town at around seven and teleported to Taft, we were currently staying in the same inn as the cats were for convenience.

Tetsuo and Keita shared a room, Ducker and Sasamaru shared a room, and Sachi had a room to herself.

Kirito and I also shared a room because we have done so since the second floor and there is no reason not too, this is a game, even if it is a very real one.

When I was about to go into the bathroom to change—though it wasn't really necessary because it only takes like 3 seconds so I could just ask Kirito to turn the other way, but it is good to keep up things like this so once we get back to the real world we won't do anything awkward—Kirito said "Why don't we go outside and see if there are any interesting night specific things to do, it is way to early to actually go to bed right now anyway."

"Sure, I guess there isn't any reason not to." I said.

"The window?" Kirito asked.

"Why? But sure if you want to." I said.

"Because it's cool and fun." he said and opened the window.

"Ladies first." he said.

"Fine." I scowled at him playfully and jumped out the window and landed silently.

I looked up and saw that he climbed out the window and closed it before jumping down silently.

"You're closer to a ninja then a samurai." I thought out loud.

"I know, I never tried to be a samurai, that includes wearing armor." he said.

And with that we head off, while walking along we found a shady looking dealer NPC in an alley with a golden question mark over his head.

"Psst, kids. Come over here." he called us over. We were in a safe zone so we walked over to him.

"There is a dungeon with a treasure somewhere around here, but the treasure has a guardian so I couldn't get it. I'll tell you where it is in exchange for most of the money there, you can keep any special trinkets you find." he said.

""Sounds good."" said both Kirito and I.

The dungeon's location appeared on our maps and the question mark over his head turned into a grey exclamation point.

"Let's go? There shouldn't be anything that can kill us here because we both take very low fall damage thanks to our [Agility] and have very high HP so let's check it out, it is quite close so we should be able to do it tonight." I said.

"Sure." Kirito said and looked at his map then said "Instead of navigating the streets let's just run on the roofs, I always wanted to try that."

"Sure..." I said unsurely but jumped up onto the nearest roof right after he did.

He turned in some direction and started running, jumping across the gaps where streets were.

It took us a very short time to reach the edge of the city and we set off in the direction of the dungeon.

At around eight we found the dungeon.

"That looks kinda creepy." I said looking at the dungeon which looked like a stone skull with gems for eyes, the entrance to the dungeon being its mouth.

"I hope this isn't the boss we have to fight." said Kirito.

We approached the mouth and looked in, we saw a vault full of golden items and other interesting things.

As we got just a but closer though, the mouth of the head closed and it flew upwards into the air, its eyes starting to glow.

Then the random bones that were laying around started flying up and assembled themselves into a giant skeleton about 10 meters tall with 2 health bars whose name read [Guardian of the Vault of Minds].

"Kirito, you jinxed it." I said.

"Sorry..." he muttered, drawing both his swords.

As Kirito ran forward the guardian swung his fist down and Kirito crossed his swords to block, probably relying on his ring to save him if the guardian is too strong.

The fist smashed into Kirito's crossed swords an- there was a sickening crunching sound of bones cracking and cracks appeared on the guardian's fist.

I checked Kirito's hp to find it barely went down a all, so despite the intimidating appearance this boss was no big deal, even though it was probably stronger then the floor boss for this floor.

Before the guardian could move I started drawing back an explosive [Charge Shot].

As the guardian started to draw back its cracked fist I launched the fully charged arrow straight at the place where the spine joined the headed and head got launched off, though the guardian didn't die it lost a lot of HP and its strikes looked like they were being guided by the head, which was laying down to the side, so the strikes were very inaccurate.

Then Kirito jumped up on an arm that was down and started to run up it, then jumped down stabbed his sword into the center of the ribcage where all the ribs joined.

Cracks spread along the the ribs and suddenly they all shattered and the HP of the boss shattered with it.

"That was easy. Looks like even the probably strongest boss monster on this floor isn't enough to put up a fight. I could easily live through a punch square to the face from this thing." Kirito said.

Suddenly the head which hadn't shattered into blue polygons flew up again and landed in its original place, then its eyes fell out and fell on the ground and shattered, leaving two rings, silver with blue gems.

On closer inspection it could be seen that they had designs that fit together though they weren't identical.

I picked it up and appraised it **_'Intertwined Ring of Minds; Allows telepathy at with the wearer of the other ring within 5 meters or through eye contact.'_**

"Is your's also called Intertwined Ring of Minds?" I asked him and put on my ring.

He put his on and I heard his voice, though slightly different in my ears, though there was likely no sound anyone else could hear. _'Yep'_ it said.

 _'These are really cool.'_ I thought back.

 _'We can spook Asuna using these.'_ he thought back.

 _'Yeah, let's test the eye contact distance telepathy?'_ I asked.

 _'Sure.'_ he said and started walking a little ways away, once he was about 10 meters away he stopped.

"Could you hear?" that he called.

"No." I called back.

Then we made eye contact and I heard _'What about now?'  
_

 _'Yes!'_ I thought back excitedly.

"Okay let's go check out the rest of the dungeon, as cool as these are they are less convenient then regular speech." he said.

"Sure!" I said and walked in, with him following behind.

After looking around we found that it was nothing else cool, just a lot of money which went to the guy who gave us the quest and couldn't be picked up.

Once we got back we completed the quest and told him that the guardian was dead and he could take the money.

Then because it was late we went to bed.

* * *

 **(** **February 25th, 10:03am)**

Kirito and I were in the cafe on the bottom floor of the inn and we were waiting for the cats to come down while drinking tea.

"Geez, how long do they sleep?" I asked nobody in particular.

"A long time." I heard from Kirito.

Eventually a slightly sleepy looking Sachi with only casual clothes on came down from the top and said "Oh, good morning."

""Good morning."" we both said at the same time.

" **So** , where were you two tonight?" she asked

 _'Crap'_ I thought, and apparently Kirito as well.

"Well it was early so we went and looked for anything interesting to do." I said.

"How did you even know we were gone?" Kirito asked.

"I knocked on your room's door a few times because I wanted to thank you for the training you've been giving us." she answered.

 _'Oh, that makes sense I guess.'_ I thought to Kirito.

 _'Yeah.'_ he thought back.

"Oh." he said aloud.

"So when do your friends wake up?" I asked her.

"They should be up by now, I went into all their rooms and woke them up so they should be down soon." she said.

"Cool." I said just before the four boys in the guild came down.

"Well, today is the last day before you two go back to the front lines, and we are pretty good by now, so can we try a somewhat harder dungeon?" ask Keita.

"Sure, but we have to be very careful, okay?" I said.

"Yes." Keita said.

Then I asked Kirito _'Which floor'_

 _'27?'_

 _'That's the one with elementals right?'_

 _'That's the one.'_

 _'Sure.'_

"Okay, we'll be going to the 27th floor." I said.

"Yeah!" Keita said.

We walked to the teleport gate and teleported to the 27th floor.

"Okay, we're going to a dungeon Kirito and I trained at when this floor was just unlocked, it is great for getting exp and col." I said.

It was mechanical looking dungeon with lots of blue lines on the blueish-gray walls.

After about 3 hours there they had all leveled up a few times and Kirito and I had once each because we were very close to leveling up.

"Hey what's this?" asked Ducker pressing on a different looking tile on the wall.

There was a treasure chest inside and Ducker ran in-

"Ducker NO STOP!" Kirito yelled and ran to Ducker, who was opening the chest.  
Kirito picked him up and literally threw him out of the room taking Tetsuo—who had also made it into the room—with him just before the door closed and alarms started ringing and red light peeked under the door.

There was the repeated sound of monsters shattering at a rate of at least 5 per second.

"Will he be okay?" asked Ducker, who had taken enough damage that if Cardinal had detected Kirito as 'meaning harm' Kirito would be orange now.

"He'll be fine, he could probably stand there and do nothing and last at least 15 minutes, and at the rate he's killing them he'll be out in no time." I said/

Then I remembered about the 5 meter telepathy distance, the room was less then 5 meters across so it should work if I walk up to the door.

I walked up to it and thought _'Kirito, you okay?'_

 _'Little busy, but yeah. These guys are really weak and have almost no HP, and I think that there should be a limited supply of them. Oh yeah, I can see the end of the sea of them, I'll be out in a minute.'_

Then she heard about 20 shatters per second as Kirito was probably spinning around chopping through any that came near.

After about a minute more the door opened and Kirito walked out.

"That was annoying." he said bluntly.

""Are you okay?"" asked Ducker and Sachi, Sachi because she is just nice and Ducker because he probably feels responsible.

"If you look at my HP you'll get your answer." he said and leaned against a wall.

They looked at his HP and saw that it was full.

"Be more careful, when it is a trap you'll typically see something the looks like a wire or path on the floor or walls leading to the door." he said.

"What should we do now?" I asked.

"We could keep going. We've only been here a few hours." said Kirito.

""""You two are brutal."""" the 4 boys said at the same time

"Or we can just go back to the front lines. We have been away for at least some part of 3 separate days." Kirito suggested.

"Sure..." I said, not really wanting to risk not getting any sandwiches.

"Why don't we ask Asuna?" I suggested.

"Sure, go ahead." Kirito said.

I opened my message menu and sent a message to Asuna _"Can we come back to the front lines yet? Please?"_

In about a minute I got my answer _"Fine."_

"She said 'Fine'" I said.

"Okay, great let's go then." he said.

"Uh, what about us?" asked Keita.

"You should come back to town with us right now as it isn't safe for just you guys to be in this dungeon. Keep training on the lower floor and work your way up slowly. Eventually you'll reach the front lines." I said.

"Right..." Keita said.

We started to make out way back and it took us about an hour an a half.

"Well this is where we part ways I guess." Sachi said somewhat sadly.

"You know you can teleport to the highest floor and see us, you just shouldn't go outside the safe zone." I pointed out.

"Right, well, we'll come by and visit every now and then." said Keita.

""Bye."" Kirito and I said and waved.

Then we held hands and walked onto the teleport gate ""Teleport Fandria!"" we both said at the same time.

After the teleport we let go of each others hands.

 _'Let's go ask Asuna for the map data on the latest dungeon and how progress in going without us, they obviously haven't found the 37th boss yet.'_ I thought to Kirito.

 _'Sure.'_ he thought back.

We set off in the direction of the inn Asuna was staying in, hoping to find her there.

Once we arrived we went in and knocked on Asuna's door hoping for an answer, and we got one "Whoever you are, go away, I'm busy." we heard Asuna say through the door.

"Aww, even us?" I asked in a fake-hurt voice.

The door opened after a few seconds and Asuna said "Hey you two, front lines sure do move a lot slower without you."

"Well, you are the reason we weren't on the front lines these past few days, at least we made some friends... kinda..." I said.

"Really? Who?" Asuna asked, ushering us into the rather large room.

"They're a small guild we saved called the Moonlit Black Cats, 5 players, when we found them they had an average" Kirito started.

and then I finished "level of only 25, we trained them to pass the time. They have potential to be pretty good, though their person with most potential has problems with freezing up when fighting sometimes."

"Did you two develop telepathy during your break?" Asuna asked.

""Yes."" we both said at the same time and raised our left hands showing the rings.

"What are those?" she asked.

"Unique items we found on the 11th floor, though the boss we had to kill to get them was probably somewhat stronger then the 15th floor boss at least." I said.

"They allow the wearers to communicate telepathically, most likely using subvocalization." Kirito said.

"They work if the wearers are within 5 meters of each other or have eye contact." I finished.

"Oh, sounds cool." Asuna said.

"We're practicing using them really fast so we could practically use them in combat." Kirito said.

"Nice. By the way, I made you some sandwiches." she said, probably getting the result she wanted.

She gave us the sandwiches and we ate them as slowly as we could, which wasn't very slow.

Asuna's sandwiches were the **best.**

* * *

 **How do you like the items? I think they're unique and cool but not nearly as overpowered as the previous ring Kirito got.**

 **If you have an ideas for items of that sort, ones not too powerful but cool and unique please PM them to me instead of leaving them as reviews so people can read the reviews without finding out what might show up.**

 **In reviews please give me your opinion of the chapter and my writing.**

 **Thank you for reading this.**

 **Also chapter 20!**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	21. Chapter 21: Second Milestone

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Hi, I'm updating again.**

 **I am not creative enough to come up with many boss fights so I'll skip most of them.**

 **So I am going to skip straight to the 50th one.**

Chapter 21: Second Milestone

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, April 28th, 3:00pm)**

Progress had slowed down and the average time per floor was about 5 days.

We were currently on 50th floor, which like the 25th floor was much, much harder then the rest.

The enemies were once again of similar strength to a boss from a few floors ago.

Sinon and I were currently after a little over a week on 18th level, with most of it mapped out.

The enemies were four armed stone statues, with a scimitar in all four of them.

The statues were about 3-4 meters tall and had little weakness.

They had ridiculous defense and you could only do a significant amount of damage in the cracks and joints.

On top of that my [Soul Eater's Katana] was finally starting to become obsolete, at least I had another one that was better then it at this point.

On the bright side they were slow.

"Kirito, there is ANOTHER one!" Sinon said from next to me and let go of my hand.

I drew my swords and Sinon her bow, my current right sword was the [Lightning Shard], it was a slightly translucent katana made of a teal crystal. The surface was perfectly smooth and shiny and inside you could see lightning zapping around.

The sword was made by Lisbeth from the crystals we found on the this floor.

The crystals were drops from the [Lightning Elemental Lord]—who was a unique boss—we found on the top of the ever-stormy mountain at the very edge of the 50th floor.

Lisbeth had also made Sinon's current bow from the crystal and the bow was simply called [The Storm], it has made from the same teal crystal and it had a continuous arc of lightning fluctuating in the center.

When she shot with it the arrow had a chance vanish and instead fire a beam of intertwining lightning bolts that flew in a straight line at ridiculous speed, then dissipated at its maximum range. Though this almost completely ignored the protection of metal armor, stone still blocked it, sadly.

On the plus side, it meant that if she did hit one of the cracks—which she did a lot—the lightning and heat would be contained by the stone and back it take a lot of damage and roast the meaty inside of the stone 'statues'.

Another bonus was that it homed in on conductive things, like the flesh behind the cracks as opposed to the stone.

If she used [Bursting Rain] or [Rapid Fire] it would fire a bunch of lightning bolts and looked epic, and dangerous.

A bonus of the telepathy rings that they recently learned about is that if one of them focuses hard enough on some point—like when Sinon is shooting something—the other can 'feel' it, so I can know where Sinon is going to shoot and Sinon where I'm going to strike.

"Right." I said.

I ran forward and dodged the first 4 blows, then there was time to attack and then it stuck 4 more times.

I slashed out at the joints with my sword, slashing in all its weak points.

Sinon's bolt of lightning came flying and struck the 'statue' in the throat—which was one of the places with less of the stone armor—while it roared its head up.

The 'statue's' hp dropped considerably and it got a status effect that caused it to spasm randomly sometimes.

We continued attacking and it took us about half an hour to get through its ridiculous HP.

"Thew, another one eats the dirt." Sinon said.

"I think it's 'another one bites the dust'." I pointed out, knowing that Sinon already knew that.

"Whatever, that's over used." she answered.

"Okay... if you say so." I said.

And on that 'positive' note we set off through the dungeon again.

And... forward, right, forward, fight, left, right, right, left, fight, right... On and on for like 3 hours until we finally found the next level.

"Geez, this takes so long." Sinon whined.

"Quit whining, it won't help, unless maybe you whine to Asuna and make her make her guild do something." (no that is not a typo) I said.

"Okay, okay." Sinon said.

"Anyway, at this rate only a few more hours before we find the boss." I said.

"Let me ride on your back until the next monster." Sinon said jokingly.

"Sure." I said trying to turn her joke on her.

"No, no it was a joke." she said hurriedly.

"Ye ask and ye shall receive, sometimes." I said while picking her up onto my back.

She just hung on tight and sat quietly on my back.

"Thaaaaat way!" she said and pointed in some—probably—random direction.

"I don't see why any other direction would be better so sure." I said and started walking the direction she pointed.

After walking on a linear path with a few turns but no splits we hit the stairs to the next level in like 15 minutes.

"See, this was the correct way." Sinon said.

"You just pointed in a random direction and got lucky though." I said.

"Maybe the labyrinths generate randomly based on the luck stat of the person walking through them and I'm just really lucky."

"Right... you lucky? Not happening." I said jokingly.

"Oh come on the luck stat is determined by your real luck..." she said slowing down towards the last part.

We walked up to the gate and activated it.

"Hey Sinon, it is only 6 right now so do you want to scout the boss? And NO I am not getting any ideas about trying to duo kill a milestone boss." I said.

"Sure, but you have to put me down." she said.

"Aww, but you look like you're enjoying yourself." I teased and she blushed and looked adorable.

"Okay, okay." I said putting her down.

"So are we going to check it out or what?" asked a slightly annoyed Sinon.

I nodded and walked to the gigantic door.

I pushed it open and there was a gigantic room, the room was longer then it was wide by quite a bit and a bit taller then it was wide.

At the end of the room there was a giant statue with 6 crossed arms, each holding a stone scimitar.

"That's going to tough." I said.

"Let's see what it does?" Sinon asked.

"Sure." I said and stepped forward.

Once we walked about 10 meters into the room the 20 meter tall statue's arms moved then it tried to stomp down on me and I dodged, this phase was so slow I could outrun it at a walk, literally.

I kept attacking and eventually broke a bit off of the stone and kept attacking there.

With me and Sinon attacking it for about an hour we finally got rid of one health bar.

Then cracks appeared at the joints of the top pair of arms and they started swinging at me.

"Looks like once we reach the fourth bar it will be attacking with all 6 arms." I said.

It seemed that a few chunks of stone also fell off of it and it sped up.

"It also seems that with each passing bar the boss's defense will drop and speed will go up." I added.

"Looks that way." Sinon answered.

"Time to retreat?" she then asked.

"Not yet." I said.

"Until I use a charge on my ring or it gets fast enough that it could hit me multiple times in a row." I said.

"Okay, if you insist." she answered, continuing to attack from a distance with her bow, her arrows seeking out spots on the arms to disable it.

After another hour or so the second health bar finally shattered and so did part of the stone protecting and slowing down the boss.

And as expected another pair of arms started moving.

And they were moving FAST, and the other pair also sped up, crap.

"I think this is enough info! Better safe then sorry, let's get out of here. Run to the door." I said.

Sinon did as told and ran to the door, once I was certain the boss couldn't catch up to her I also turned and ran towards the door, dodging the boss's parting strikes.

Once we were out there I said "That is going to be tough, the boss get's really fast, quickly."

"Yeah, we are going to need a lot of tanks that will switch out a lot. Let's go give Asuna the map data and what we know about the boss." Sinon answered.

Then she randomly hugged me.

"Sorry, just wanted a hug." she said after she let go.

"Okay..." I muttered quietly, not sure how to respond.

* * *

 **(Sinon, April 30th, 1:00pm)**

"That concludes our final briefing, we will be fighting the boss now." Asuna finished and walked over to the boss doors.

She pushed them open and we went in.

As expected the boss started stomping around and lost it's first bar easily within 45 minutes or less, the next stage went by nearly as fast.

Then in one strike of the boss in its 3rd stage sent a tank flying and combined with the impact with the wall he was left on the very edge of death.

"Do not panic! Stick together, nobody try to block its blows alone!" This was Heathcliff.

The Tanks lined up against the blows and distributed the damage, then switched out with the other tanks.

The 3rd phase was going fine with no casualties until near the end when the boss struck a group of 3 DPS players and sent them flying and crashing into a wall.

Inflicting the [Unconscious] debuff and nearly killing them, though with the debuff they were as good as dead for the rest of the fight.

While 3 people wasn't that much it showed that the boss could take a player out of the game, and if there was just one of them, probably kill them in one strike.

Then finally the 4th stage started, the boss lost the rest of its stone armor and was left with its copper-looking 'skin'.

This would sound like a good thing at first but it also meant the boss moved on another level of speed not just compared to the previous stage but compared to most players.

At this stage the boss also unlocked its final arms and the swords lost their stone and became perfectly polished bronze color scimitars.

I released arrow after arrow in the boss's face but it blocked a good fraction with its swords.

The nice thing was that metal conducts well, and the whole boss was made of metal.

This meant that my bow and Kirito's sword were far more effective against the boss then they were against most other things.

And more effective then most other thing were against the boss.

At this point it took half the tanks to block the blows so there was only two groups switching out. The boss also now sometimes ignored the tanks and went after whoever was doing the most damage to it, which was Kirito.

The boss swung his sword down at Kirito with a ridiculous speed and Kirito's katana moved up faster to meet it, with his hand on the back of his blade for more force.

In the real world a sword that size just falling on him would be impossible to block, I guess good thing this isn't the real world because as scimitar met katana a shockwave flew out, blowing some of the lighter players off their feet, this would have included me if I wasn't on the other side of the boss room.

The sound was ridiculously loud and if you could go deaf in this game everyone here would be, thankfully you couldn't.

The floor under Kirito's feet cracked, despite supposedly being an immortal object—though obviously it wasn't—the cracks spread out in a spider web fashion and a circle of the floor about 20 meters radius around Kirito shattered into nothing.

This thankful included only Kirito and the boss.

Kirito had moved his sword out of the way and jumped just before the floor shattered and so was now flying in the air, his eyes made contact and I heard _'Little help please.'_

 _'Right.'_

I readied an arrow and shot it next to him, he snatched it out of the air and it transferred its energy to him, which thanks to the power of my bow was enough to move him sideways enough so that he landed at the edge of the hole instead of at the bottom.

He took out a healing crystal right away and used it, just before he did I checked the party menu and saw that his health was practically non existent.

After his health recovered he looked down the hole and jumped back as a giant scimitar swung right in front of his face.

"I guess it was wishful thinking that that would have killed it." said Kirito with a sigh, though I could barely hear from here and the sigh I just guessed by the movements of his mouth.

Then the boss's hand placed on the ground near Kirito and the boss started to pull itself all the way out.

Kirito charged forward and slashed at the fingers, though it was a moment to late and the boss still made it out, though it collapsed.

Everyone ran forward and started attacking the hands hoping to disable at least one of the 6 swords.

And they succeeded.

Once the boss stood up it was only holding 4 swords and two of its hands were being used as clubs.

Kirito retreated for a bit and came next to me, so as not to waste potential DPS he also took out his bow and started shooting, though it wasn't doing much.

"Remind me to never do that again." he said.

"Noted." I said, myself also hoping he would never try something like that again.

"Why didn't you dodge?" I asked.

"Because I noticed the floor wasn't an immortal object so I thought it might have something to do with the fight, but the boss's strikes alone weren't enough to break it. Well, gotta go back to fighting the boss." he answered and ran forward, putting away his bow and drawing his katana. So the floor shattering was his intention.

He started slashing at the hands as they came down, hoping to immobilize them and and deal damage.

Finally the boss was at about 5% of its final bar and then the expression on its solemn face turned to one of absolute rage and fury and the strikes with its remaining 3 swords sped up to a ridiculous speed, and apparently strength as was all too apparent when the boss's next strike hit the tanks, sending the whole tank squad flying.

When they hit the tanks that were ready to switch out with them they only slowed down a little and kept flying then all the tanks at once—except Heathcliff who had managed to stop himself at some point—slammed into the wall and collapsed, 2 of them shattering into nothingness.

People ran over to try and heal them but the boss was charging after them.

Kirito ran after the boss at a slightly higher speed and jump, stabbing his sword in and using it was a foothold he jumped up again, then while in midair, he equipped his other sword and landed on the top of the boss's head, stabbing his sword down and then hanging on for dear life as the boss flailed its head around trying to shake him off.

Eventually it stopped and Kirito pulled out his sword and rammed into the center of the boss's forehead.

The remaining sliver of HP the boss had disappeared.

The boss shattered and Kirito fell, though I didn't see the falling part because of the bright flash of light.

Though I did hear metal hitting the ground and then shortly after the sound—or nearly lack of sound— of a person landing on the ground.

Kirito then walked out from the light and said "Remind me to never do that again either."

"I'm pretty sure that qualifies under the previous 'never do that again'." I said.

"Well those guys would have died if I didn't do that." he said.

"Let's go on to the next floor?" I asked him.

"Sure, we're officially half way done with this game!" he said.

* * *

We made sure nobody was looking in our direction and when we saw everyone who had tried had been blinded by the light and everybody else was tired and sitting or laying on the ground.

We held hands and walked into the beam of light.

Once the light faded we were on floor 51.

"So what did you get as the LAB?" I asked.

"You know how one of my katanas is getting obsolete?" he asked.

"Yeah..." I said, knowing where this was going.

"I got a katana called Muramasa, it is described as 'the cursed demon blade' and has ridiculous stats and some cool abilities, including this." as he said 'this'.

A large raven appeared on his shoulder as if he equipped it.

"Go Muramasa!" he said and pointed at wall.

The bird flew off his shoulder and started flying then suddenly folded its wings in and started spinning then it started being surrounded by black and purple energy and sped up to a ridiculous speed, then when it slammed into the immortal object wall it flew through it and back around and landed on Kirito's shoulder.

The wall was undamaged, the immortal object label was flashing very, very bright showing that if it hadn't been an immortal object it would probably be very dead.

"Wow..." I muttered.

"So your sword is also a pet bird?" I asked after I got over what just happened.

"Pretty much." he said.

* * *

 **This will be Kirito's sword for the rest of the game, and the lightning crystal one will (probably) also be used as his second sword until the end of the game.**

 **The sword is based somewhat off the Muramasa (the whole turn into a bird thing) in the anime** **Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun.**

 **Thank you for reading and I know "How do you explain Kirito being able to block the strike from the boss." well two things.**

 **A) Kirito is actually far higher level then the tanks.**

 **B) Some form of the incarnate system from Underworld and Brain Burst does exist in SAO, otherwise how do you explain Kirito being able to kill Kayaba despite his HP dropping to zero? This means if Kirito is determined enough it could work.**

 **C) He lost most of his HP in the process.**

 **Please review, follow and favorite this story.**

 **Your reviews mean a lot and the fact that people are enjoying this is probably the main reason I haven't dropped this yet, or at least dropped the schedule.**

 **It is also because I want to write this.**

 **Also 70k words, only about half of that more and I will break 100k!**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	22. Chapter 22: Flowers

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Not much to put in authors notes this time, all I'm going to say is that there will probably be only a few more chapters of SAO and then there will be ALO.**

 **By the way I almost forgot about Silica and started writing a chapter where they were on a way later floor but then I remembered about Silica so I'm writing this.**

Chapter 22: Flowers

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, July 23rd, 1:30pm)**

"Somebody, please help! Please help!" a man was shouting, he was a player so this wasn't a quest so we should go ask what is wrong.

 _'Let's go find out what's wrong?'_ Kirito apparently had thought the same as he asked me that.

I nodded and we started walking towards the person.

"Hello, what's wrong?" Kirito asked once we walked over to the person.

"My guild, they were killed by a guild called Titan's Hand, we were a small guild with 5 people called Silver Flags, I was the guild leader. Can you please find Titan's Hand and send them to Black Iron Prison? I'll pay you if necessary and I have the corridor crystal to send them there." he said.

"We'll help and you don't need to pay us, just tell us where you were attacked and what you know about them." Kirito said.

"We were attacked on the 35th floor, in the forest of wandering, I don't know their names and only the leader stood out, she is a spear user with very red hair, she is also quite slender, she is a green player and doesn't attack players herself, but only picks them out and lures them into traps." he said.

"Okay, we'll find them." I said.

"Then here you go." he said and gave Kirito the corridor crystal.

With that we started walking and I sent a PM to Argo saying _"Please meet us near the teleport gate in Mishe."_

 _"Okay, but you better mean_ _business"_ she sent back.

 _'We're meeting Argo on floor 35.'_ I thought at Kirito who nodded.

We walked to the teleport gate and teleported to the 35th floor, as expected to the side Argo was waiting.

"Hey Ki-bou, Sinononon!" called Argo, calling us by annoying nickname, at least mine was annoying.

"We need information about a player, we know that she is the leader of an orange guild called Titan's Hand and that she is a slender spear user with bright red hair. Her last known location was at the forest of wandering on this floor." I said.

"Got it, give me a day and I'll come back to you with what I find. It will cost you 1500 col though." she said.

"You know we'll pay." I said.

"Right, right, meet me here at five-o-clock tomorrow." she said.

I nodded and she scurried off like the rat she calls herself.

* * *

 **(** **July 24rd, 5:00pm** **)**

We were wa-

"And I'm here." said Argo, as I was about to think, we were waiting for Argo to show up and give us the info on the leader of the guild Titan's Hand.

"So what you got?" I asked.

"Pay first." Argo said.

I was about to object but Kirito said "Fine." and traded her the 1500 col.

"Okay, her name is Rosalia and she was last seen going into the [Forest of Wandering] about an hour ago with a party of clean players, probably her next targets. Also her spear is in a cross shape and she has purple eyes." Argo said.

"Got it, we better get a move on then." I said and grabbed Kirito's hand to pull Kirito in the direction of the [Forest of Wandering], he soon regained his footing and we took off at a run.

* * *

 **(Silica, 5:31pm)**

"Come on, give me some of the healing crystals!" I said, I was getting really annoyed by Rosalia and her unwillingness to share the healing crystals, I need them more then she did, she just stayed in the back and hid behind everybody else.

"You don't need them, you have that pet lizard and the boy's will heal if you get hurt." Rosalia answered back.

"It's not like you need them, at least I fight in the front and Pina heals everybody, you just hide behind everybody else with your spear and don't get damaged anyway." I shouted back angrily.

" **You don't need them.** " Rosalia said in an 'I'm an adult so I'm right' voice.

"Fine then, you want to take my crystals? Take them, but I'm leaving! And I'll never party with you again, I'm sure there are plenty of parties that want me!" I said angrier then before and left the party and stormed off in some random direction.

After about 15 minutes of walking I got randomly teleported a few times and killed a few monsters, though none of them were very strong.

Then I ran into 3 [Drunken Apes], which were incredibly annoying because of their high health and ability to heal if you stop attacking them for a moment.

I charged forward and attacked the first one with my dagger, I hit a few times but I got hit once myself as well.

Once I managed to get it in the red it retreated and switched out with another one of the three and started healing.

I decided that it would make sense to heal myself as well so I reached in my pouch... and found that I had no health potions or crystals left at all!

I am so screwed!

Well then I got to finish them off before they can kill me, which means I should go after the one that is healing.

I charged forward and ducked under the swing from the second one's club going after the first one which was still healing.

I was about to reach it when... slam!

I got hit by the third one's club and sent flying into a nearby tree, my HP dropping into the low yellow.

"Pina, HEAL!" I called to the teal colored [Feathery Dragon] that was flying around trying to distract the apes.

Pina flew over to me and breathed some bubbles on me. My HP rose to the very bottom of the green zone, Pina must be almost out of healing.

I ran forward trying to strike at the still healing ape, now in the high yellow.

This time I struck it but I didn't quite kill it despite hitting it in the neck and it swung its club around and sent me flying again, this time my hp dropped to a drop and my dagger flew out of my hand.

The ape walked up and got ready to swing at me.

This is the end? Is this how I die?

I screamed, hoping that someone would hear me.

The ape swung its club down and I closed my eyes.

I heard a thump of the club hitting flesh but I didn't feel anything.

I opened my eyes and saw that Pina had taken the club hit.

She was laying no the ground making soft noises and her HP was dropping and showing no sign of stopping as it reached the red and then zero.

Pina shattered leaving nothing but a feather.

"Pina... Pina! Pina don't leave me all alone here!" I cried softly, no longer caring about the ape about to finish me off.

As the ape swung its club down suddenly it was sliced in half along with the one next to it by a... large raven's wing, shrouded in purple and black light.

Then the third ape was shot through the head with an arrow and shattered along with the other two.

The bird swooped back around and transformed into a sword before falling into a black haired boy's hand.

Next to him stood a girl with hair dyed blue holding a crystal bow.

"Are you alright?" asked the boy gently.

I ignored him and kept crying "Pina *sob* Pina!"

"Are you a beast tamer?" he asked.

I nodded.

"Sorry we couldn't make it in time to save your friend." he said.

"Hey, what is that feather called?" asked the girl.

I tapped on it to check and it said Pina's Heart and I said so.

"Good, then we can revive her." the girl said.

"What? How?" I asked excitedly.

"There is a dungeon on the 47th floor called the [Hill of Memories], at the end of the dungeon there is an item called the [Pneuma Flower], it will revive a dead pet within 3 days of its death, but it will only bloom if there is an ex-beast-tamer there." she said.

"Floor 47? 3 days?" I asked with my hopes crushed.

"We can take you there." said the boy and opened the trade window.

The name over the trade window was just ? so apparently he had his name hidden.

He placed a dagger and armor in the window and when I looked at it I saw that it was a lot better then my current armor and weapons.

I started to move some money into the window but he said "No need, we got plenty of money anyway."

"Okay." I nodded, feeling slightly bad about having a someone who I just met give me something and then not pay for it.

"We'll probably be working together for a little while now, my name is Kirito and this here is Sinon." he said pointing to the girl.

"I'm Silica." I said absentmindedly while wondering why those names seemed familiar, like I had heard them somewhere before.

"Well, nice to meet you Silica, let's get you back to Mishe." Kirito said.

* * *

 **(Sinon, 5:53pm)**

Kirito had given the girl we rescued some stuff and **not** told her that she was practically bait, though we had no intention of her getting hurt and did plan to help her revive her pet.

"Okay." Silica said.

She stood up and put the feather that was her pet in her inventory.

We started walking back out of the forest, the key to getting out was simply to move fast so that you didn't teleport, then just use the compass in your HUD to find your way out.

We walked in the direction of Mishe and got there in about half an hour, though Kirito had carried Silica through the forest because she couldn't move fast enough long enough for our method of getting out of the forest.

She seemed to have enjoyed the ride.

"So where are you two staying?" asked Silica.

"We have a house on the 50th floor but we're probably going to stay in an inn here today." I answered.

"Well if you're staying here then let me treat you to some of the cheesecake here, it is amazing!" she said happily.

"I don't see any reason not too." I said and Kirito nodded.

With that Silica led us along to the cafe that sold the cheesecake when "Silica thank god you're alright, you didn't come back from the forest for so long." said one of two boys, the fat one of the ugly bunch.

"Want to party up with us sometime? We'll take you anywhere you want to go." said the other one.

Silica looked around awkwardly until her eyes fell on me and Kirito.

"I'm partying with these two for a little while." she said grabbing onto our hands and pulling us along in the direction of the cafe.

The rest of the walk there was mostly uneventful but right before we walked in someone said "Oh thank god you're alright Silica." in the most sarcastic voice I could imagine.

We turned around and saw a slender female red-head with purple eyes and a cross spear, Rosalia.

"Oh? What happened to your friend, the lizard? Did it run away or..." she asked.

"Pina died saving me." Silica said sadly.

"But I'm going to get her back!" she then added with determination.

"Oh? Does that mean you're going to the [Hill of Memories]? Will you be able to clear it at your level?" she asked.

"Oh she will." Kirito said.

"Are you another one she seduced? You didn't look very strong." she said.

Kirito ignored her and went inside the cafe, Silica followed after and so did I, Rosalia looked like she just noticed me once I moved and I resisted the urge to laugh out loud.

We walked inside and sat down, then Silica asked "Why is she so mean?"

"Is Sword Art Online the first MMO you ever played?" Kirito asked.

"Yeah." she said unsurely and nodded.

"People's personality changes online, some people even enjoy playing the villain, in a normal MMO they kill some players, have some laughs, and then all's well that ends well." he said.

"While there is almost no killing in Sword Art Online people's personality still changes and people still act like jerks because they're 'online'." Kirito said.

"Oh." Silica said.

"In SAO there is a criminal system, if someone commits a crime the cursor above their head turns orange and they can't enter safe zones, crimes against them do not make your cursor turn orange. If someone commits a minor offense like theft or damage but not kill their cursor turns orange for a few hours, then days, then weeks, then months, and then permanently with consecutive offenses, but if someone kills their cursor is permanently orange." Kirito said.

Then as if to interrupt the darkening mood their cheesecake arrived and as Silica had said it was amazing.

After they ate it for about 15 minutes relatively quietly we all went to bed, Kirito and I renting a room in the same inn that Silica was staying in.

As I was about to get into bed Kirito said "I'm gonna go brief Silica about tomorrow, you wanna come?"

"Sure, gimme a second to change back." I said.

Kirito walked out of the room and waited outside.

I quickly changed back into my casual clothes from my sleep ones and stepped outside.

We walked over to Silica's room and Kirito knocked and asked "Silica, you still awake? I wanted to discuss plans for tomorrow."

"Yeah, coming." Silica called through the door and ran over, then I heard her suddenly stop right before the door, breath out a sigh of relief, then the sound of an object materializing and then she opened the door and muttered "Sorry for the delay."

She looked flustered so if I had to guess she probably nearly opened the door while underdressed.

We sat down at the small table in the room and Kirito placed a mirage sphere on the table, which Silica was curious about.

Then somewhere in the middle of explaining plans for tomorrow someone was trying to eavesdrop and Kirito ran out but didn't catch them.

Then we had to explain to Silica about that and pretend not to know who would want to eavesdrop on us.

After that we went to bed and as I was about to go to bed I said "Asuna would be proud of us, we spent a whole day away from the front lines."

"Yeah." Kirito muttered with a chuckle and went into the bathroom to change.

I fell asleep before he came back.

* * *

 **(July 25th, 9:46am)**

I woke up and felt rather refreshed, like I had been sleepy for a while now without noticing.

Which was probably the case since I didn't get much sleep in general and sometimes had nightmares which made me wake up sleepier then I went to bed, sometimes I ended up asking Kirito to sleep in my bed when I had nightmares, as awkward as it was.

I got up and changed then walked over to Kirito and woke him up.

"G'morning Sinon." he said.

"G'morning Kirito." I answered.

He got up and changed in the bathroom, then we went out of the room I asked "Should we wake up Silica or let her wake up herself and pass the time somehow?"

"Let's wait, we can go get some tea in the meantime." Kirito said.

We went to the cafe across the street and got some tea and waited for about half an hour before Silica messaged Kirito and asked where we were.

We met up with her at the Mishe teleport gate walked onto it.

I grabbed Kirito's and Silica's hands and said "Teleport Floria!"

In a blinding flash of light we appeared in the middle of the floor covered in flowers.

Silica immediately ran over to the nearest bunch and started smelling them while Kirito and I just stood next to each other and watched her.

After a few minutes Kirito said "Alright Silica, you can smell the flowers later, let's get going."

"Right." said Silica with determination.

We walked for a little bit and once we left the city the flowers started to look more naturally growing and in my opinion nicer then the densely populated flowers of Floria itself.

After a 30 minute walk we reach the [Hill of Memories] dungeon, which was really just a path leading to a hill.

After a few minutes walking along giant fly trap like monster picked Silica with a vine by the foot and flipped her upside down.

Silica screamed "Save me! Save me but don't look!"

Kirito just turned to the side and said "It's not that strong just swing back and forth."

Silica did as instructed and reached the second vine that was holding her up and cut it her dagger.

This caused her to swing down and easily reach the other one cutting it as well.

Then she put her dagger in front of her as she fell and it stabbed into the fly trap, causing it to shatter to nothing.

"Did you see anything?" asked Silica, embarrassed.

""Nope."" said both of us, Kirito had looked away and I hadn't seen 'anything' even though I was watching to help her if needed.

After that little incident we did fine until we reached a bridge and then in the middle of the bridge Silica got lifted into the air by another monster that came out of the bridge.

This time Kirito chopped it apart before it could lift her to any height.

After that we reached the flower with a few more fights but nothing major.

We reached a pedestal with water in it and I said "Go grab it." to Silica who ran over and then the flower bloomed.

"Pick it." I said and she did.

"Let's get back to town before we revive Pina, there are a bunch of strong monster around here." Kirito said and Silica nodded.

We walked back to the bridge without any encounters at all until once we were right in the middle of the bridge Kirito said "Stop." to me and Silica and we stopped.

Kirito had a passive skill that alerted him of any players with the [Hiding] skill active, so there was probably someone hiding here.

"Whoever is hiding behind that tree come out." he said loudly.

As expected someone came out and to Silica's but not our surprise it was Rosalia.

"Rosalia?" Silica muttered in surprise.

"Oh good job, you got the flower!" said Rosalia in a mock nice voice and then in a suddenly serious voice "Now hand it over."

"No one is handing anything over to you Rosalia, or should I say leader of the orange guild, Titan's Hand." Kirito said.

Then Silica quietly asked me "But she's green right?"

I answered quietly "It's a common trick used by orange players, they have green players called 'lures' which lure victims into ambushes."

"If you knew that why did you come? Did she really seduce you or are you just stupid?" she asked.

"Neither actually. The thing is, we were looking for you." Kirito said.

"Why would you be looking for me?" asked Rosalia.

"A few days ago you attacked a small guild called the Silver Flags, the leader survived, the four others didn't. The leader went back and forth on the front lines begging for someone to avenge his fallen friends, but he didn't want you dead, he wanted you to be put in jail. Do you have any idea how he felt?" he finished with a question.

"The losers with no money? And can't say I do, who takes this seriously anyway, there is no proof we die IRL if we die here anyway." she said.

"Would you like to find out personally?" asked Kirito threateningly, though he obviously had no plans on killing her.

"No thanks, I'm rather enjoying myself here." she said to my horror.

"Anyway, you should stop worrying about others and start worrying about yourselves." she added and snapped her fingers.

From behind the other trees came 8 more men, one of them green, probably the eavesdropper from yesterday.

Kirito just stepped forward and drew his katana.

Silica called with her voice full of worry "Kirito!"

And the men froze.

"Kirito? All black, katana in one hand this guy's the Black Swordsman! And that's Sinon the Blue Archer." said one of them.

"What would clearers from the front lines be doing down here? Go on kill them and take everything they own!" Rosalia said and that was all the encouragement they needed as they charged forward started slashing at Kirito.

Silica was about to run forward to try to help him but stopped, probably when she noticed his health bar was refilling after taking a bit of damage.

Finally the men stopped, panting and Kirito said "I have a battle healing skill that does heals me more then you can hurt me, we could stand here all day and you wouldn't kill me."

"That's not possible." said one of the men.

"Wanna bet?" Kirito asked in a taunting voice.

"MMOs that use a level system work that way, if you're high enough level you're invincible. Just because this feels real doesn't change that." he said.

Then he pulled out the corridor crystal and said "This is set to teleport to the Black Iron Prison, and I'm sending you all there."

Rosalia started protest saying "But I'm green if you hurt me you'll go ora-"

She was cut off by Kirito practically vanishing from his spot and appearing in front of her with his sword to her throat and said in a voice far deadlier then the one he had used in school when we first met on Endou "I don't care about having play orange for a few hours, got it? So you're going to prison, or I'm throwing you in there."

Rosalia just froze, probably from his tone of voice and dropped her spear.

Kirito back off and held out the crystal saying "Corridor open."

The crystal shattered and a gate opened to the Black Iron Prison and they all obediently walked through, knowing that we could just them as much as we wanted without consequence.

Then the gate closed and we went home.

When we got to Silica's room I said to her "Sorry for using you as bait."

"It's fine, you guys protected me right? So what does it matter and you helped me revive Pina." she answered.

"Speaking of which, why don't you actually revive her now." Kirito said.

Silica nodded and took out the feather and the flower, then she dripped a drop of nectar from the flower on the feather and the flower shattered and the feather glowed bright blue.

Once the light cleared a teal feather dragon yipped playfully and Silica hugged it tight.

We decided not to interrupt their reunion and went to bed.

"G'night Kirito." I said hugging Kirito.

I liked hugging him because, well, most children hug their moms before bed and such but at 11 I practically stopped having a mother and even before then she was broken by fathers death so I never really got any hugs, and hugging someone you cared about and who cared about you was something humans liked to do, or at least most did.

"G'night Sinon." he said after I let go and we both went to bed.

* * *

 **I added some fluff right? Right? No authors notes on this end either this time except the usual.**

 **Please follow, favorite, and leave helpful reviews.  
**

 **Supportive reviews are nice too ;)**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	23. Chapter 23: Rabbit Eyes

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Probably a somewhat shorter chapter today because I have finals tomorrow so I don't have much time to write.**

 **Also sorry I skipped over the Golden Apple and fake safe-zone murders part but I forgot about it, maybe I'll write an extra chapter for it later.**

 **It would probably end up going almost exactly like the canon anyway though.**

Chapter 23: Rabbit Eyes

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, October 30th, 7:00pm)**

It was almost a year since we got here and we were on the 74th floor, if current trends continue we would probably slow down quite a bit after the 75th floor boss as well. Anyway, we would probably be out of here within half a year or so.

We were heading back from the 74th dungeon, on foot because we felt like taking a walk when Kirito froze.

I stopped moving as well though I didn't know why until I heard a slight rustling to the right in some bushes.

Kirito took out a throwing pick and threw it at the tree above the bush, out bounced a greenish rabbit and he nailed it with a second pick.

"What was that?" I asked.

"It's a [Ragout Rabbit], it dropped [Ragout Rabbit Meat], which is an S-class meat." he answered.

S-class is the rarest class, which meant that this was some of the best meat that existed in this game.

"Let's head to Egil's shop and check how much he will buy it for, though I'm not sure we want to sell it." he said.

"Sure." I had no problems with that plan.

It took us about half an hour to make it to the teleport gate on the 74th and teleport to Algade, which is where our house and Egil's shop were.

Then from their navigating the city to get to the shop took about 45 minutes despite being far closer, we even considered running on the roofs to speed it up.

We were about to walk in to Egil's shop when we heard "Come back again!" come from inside, looks like he just ripped off another customer.

We walked in and I said "Hey Egil, still juicing every last col out of people are you?"

"Oh come on, don't go slandering my good name, buy cheap, sell cheap, that's my motto." he said.

"I'm not so sure about the 'sell cheap' part." Kirito said.

"Anyway, down to business." Kirito said and opened a trade window with Egil.

Then he put the rabbit in and asked "How much would you buy this for?"

"Are you sure you want to sell that? Don't you two have plenty of money already you should just eat it or something." Egil answered.

"Well yeah, but you need a maxed cooking skill and neither of us have one." Kirito said.

"I'd probably just burn it too." Egil said.

Asuna chose this moment to walk in and I remembered that Asuna might have a maxed cooking skill.

Kirito apparently did as well but before he could ask Asuna said "Hey you two, haven't seen you outside of boss fights much recently."

"Yeah not really." I said.

Kirito walked up to Asuna and asked "What is your cooking skill at right now?"

"I maxed it last week." she said proudly and then asked "Why?"

"Well, on our way back from the 74th dungeon we caught something." he said and opened a trade window and placed the rabbit in.

Asuna's mouth opened in shock and she said quietly "That's an s-class item."

"Yep, how about this, you cook it and you can have a third." he said.

"Deal." Asuna said instantly.

"So where are we going to have it?" she asked.

Kirito and I looked at each other and then at Asuna awkwardly, Kirito and I didn't have any cookware at our houses, as we mostly just ate at cafes or restaurants.

"You two don't have any cookware do you?" Asuna asked and we just nodded.

Asuna sighed and said "Fine, we'll have it at my place."

We nodded again and then Asuna's bodyguard who had just walked in—he probably had been waiting outside—said "You shouldn't bring such shady strangers into your house."

Kirito walked over to me and said "What does he expect? Us to try and kill her in a safe zone? Or a teenage girl to try something perverted?"

"I don't know." I answered.

Then Asuna sternly said "They are neither shady nor strangers."

 _'Would she stop trying to defend us? It isn't like it is going to help but it might ruin her reputation.'_ Kirito thought at me.

I nodded, but there was nothing we could really do.

"Come on." Asuna said and started pulling us along.

Egil said "Come on, will you at least let me have a bite?"

"I'll write you a review, no more then two pages!" Kirito called back.

"Cold... I thought we were tight." Egil said with fake hurt in his voice.

And with that Asuna literally dragged us out.

After a moment we regained our footing and we followed her along, once we reached the teleport gate she said "Kuradeel, you are dismissed."

He sent us a hateful glare and then walked onto the teleport gate and said "Teleport Granzam!"

Then Asuna dragged us onto the teleport gate and said "Teleport Selmburg!"

Selmburg was the main city on the 61st and it took up most of the large island in the center of the lake that was most of the 61st floor.

The city was beautiful and if Kirito and I actually used our house for anything but sleep and wanted a nice house we would probably move here as it was the nicest city so far, by a lot.

"You live here? Isn't it expensive?" I asked.

"My guild payed for it." she said.

"Oh." I said.

After a short 15 minute walk we arrived at her place.

We walked in and it was quite glamorous.

"Wow." I muttered.

"How much did this cost?" Kirito asked curiously.

"This main area was about 4 Megacol, the whole house was 10." she said.

""That's a lot. But it is nice."" said both Kirito and I at the same time.

"If you like it so much why don't you move to Selmburg?" Asuna asked.

"Out of our price range." Kirito joked, if anyone could afford it, it was us, the thing was we had no need for a nice house and we hated spending money, regardless of how much we had.

"Right..." said Asuna sarcastically.

"You two probably have more money then my guild." she added.

It was possible, though not very likely.

"Fine, we have no need for a nice house because we do nothing but sleep in our house and we don't like spending money, regardless of how much we have." Kirito said.

"When was the last time you two took a day off?" Asuna asked.

"Well we took most of today off." I said.

"I mean the whole day off." she said.

"July I think." Kirito said.

"That's like 3 or 4 months ago!" Asuna exclaimed.

""And?"" asked Kirito and I.

"Ah! Whatever!" Asuna said exasperated.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go change into something more comfortable and get cooking, you two just do whatever it is you normally do when you're not fighting." Asuna said.

"Are you referring to sleeping or eating?" I asked jokingly.

"Just wait here okay?" Asuna asked.

We nodded and sat down on the rather comfortable couch.

We both took off our combat gear which left us in our casual clothes, which we wore under it.

Why Asuna needed to go to another room to take off her combat gear I didn't know, probably because whatever she wore under it wasn't her casual clothes.

After about a minute Asuna came back wearing the same colors but the clothes were looser and obviously more comfortable, as well as the obvious lack of armor.

"Well, I'll get cooking. You two can wait here or watch. What should I make out of it?" Asuna asked.

"Well it has ragout in its name so a stew I guess." Kirito said.

I don't know what connection ragout has to stew, but it is probably just some type of stew.

"Right. I'll make some side dishes while it cooks because it will take about half an hour." Asuna said.

I decided to take a nap during this time because well, there are only 3 things Kirito and I really know how to do in this world, eat, fight and sleep.

Since eating and fighting weren't available at the moment that just left sleeping.

I'm just kidding but right now there isn't anything to do except use the time to get my sleep deprived brain some extra sleep.

I leaned my head on Kirito's shoulder and I saw him smile slightly before I closed my eyes.

I opened my eyes again when I heard Kirito say "Wake up."

Asuna was looking at me as if I was the most adorable thing in the world and Kirito looked like he had been trying to wake me up for a bit.

I looked at the table and saw that stuff was already on it.

"By the way you look adorable when you're asleep Sinon." Asuna said.

"The way you were looking at me I figured you thought so." I answered.

"Anyway, let's eat?" asked Kirito.

"Sure." Asuna said and I sat up straight and picked up my spoon.

The moment I ate some of the stew I closed my eyes and savored it, it was amazing.

"""This stew is amazing.""" said all three of us at the same time.

After eating it for probably over an hour in silence we sadly finished it.

"I'm glad I lived long enough to experience that." Asuna said.

"Yeah, me too." I said.

Kirito just nodded.

"So you two, have you kissed yet or what?" asked Asuna out of nowhere.

Kirito bluntly answered "We did last Christmas."

I was surprised how he said that without blushing, as I myself was probably as red as a tomato, at least he didn't say exactly what happened.

Asuna was apparently also surprised but probably for a different reason, and maybe a bit disappointed but I'm probably imagining that.

"Okay..." she said.

"By the way when was the last time we partied up?" she asked.

"Um, you mean outside boss raids?" Kirito asked.

"Yeah." she answered.

"Like that time on the ninth floor or maybe it was the third." Kirito said, trying to remember, I couldn't remember either, those two floors blended together in my memories because they were so similar.

"So like almost a year ago." I said.

"We should party up again." she said.

"At New Years didn't you say you never wanted to party with us again?" I asked.

"I'm pretty sure you are the ones that said that, though at the time I agreed with you." she said.

"Okay then, fine." Kirito said.

"Great! Let's meet on the 74th floor tomorrow at 10am." she said.

"Right, well, I guess we'll be heading home now." I said.

Kirito nodded.

"Okay, bye then, nice talking to you two again." she said and escorted us to the door.

* * *

 **(October 31st, 10:10am)**

We were waiting for Asuna and she was late, which was unexpected because she was never late before so we decided we would check on her in 5 minutes is she doesn't show up.

A few minutes later Asuna came flying through the gate and landed on me.

I realized the position we were in and was suddenly thankful that she fell on me and not Kirito.

I pushed her off gently and got up, then pulled her up.

"Sorry Sinon, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, why were did you come flying from the teleport gate?" I asked just before the teleport gate flashed again and Asuna's bodyguard appeared.

"Why are you behaving like this Asuna-sama, I'm only following orders. Please, let's go back to headquarters." said Kuradeel.

"I won't, and anyway, why were you lurking around my house this morning?!" she asked.

"You have a bad habit of leaving without any warning, so for the past month my mission has been to watch you, including in Selmburg." said the bodyguard, correction, creep.

"What? Who ordered this? It sure as hell wasn't the commander!" Asuna said angrily.

"With all due respect my mission is to guard you Asuna-sama. No matter where you are, including in your home." said the creep.

"No it doesn't!" Asuna yelled.

"I wish you'd be a little more understanding about his, Asuna-sama. Now then let's return to headquarters." said the creep, grabbing Asuna's wrist. I was to creeped out by him to laugh at that he called her Asuna- **sama**.

Asuna looked in our direction and Kirito grabbed the creeps wrist, judging by the expression on the 'bodyguard's' face, quite tightly.

"I'm sorry but we'll be borrowing your second-in-command for today." he said firmly, though with only a little of the steel that he sometimes has in his voice.

"So you'll just have to do without her for today. Don't worry we'll be responsible for her security, not that she needs it. Don't worry it's not like we're going on a boss raid so you can go, she'll be perfectly safe with us." Kirito then said.

"Insolent punk! Do you know who I am? I'm a member of the glorious Knights of the Blood Oath! Low-level players like you two couldn't hope to protect her!" said the creep.

"We could do a better job of it then you can." said Kirito calmly.

"You got a big mouth kid, so I'm giving you a chance to prove just how tough you really are." said the creep.

Then he did something which I found it hard not to laugh at, he challenged Kirito to a duel, first strike mode.

Kirito looked at Asuna who nodded and then he accepted the duel request.

At this point we were attracting quite a crowd, as there was the 'Black Swordsman' and a member of KBO dueling.

"Please move to a safe distance Asuna-sama, I'm going to prove beyond any doubt that I am the only one who can protect you." said the creep.

"By getting beaten into the dirt?" I asked quietly making sure he could just barely hear me.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" he said angrily at me.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, you must be hearing things." I said calmly.

He glared at me and got in a stance facing Kirito.

It was the stance for a charge move.

Kirito on the other hand was standing perfectly casually and hadn't bothered to draw his sword yet, and probably wasn't planning to at all.

The timer hit zero and a very angry Kuradeel charged forward.

Kirito's fist started to glow and slammed into Kuradeel's two-handed sword at ridiculous speed, instantly shattering it.

"You can try again with another one if you want but we'll get the same result." Kirito said perfectly calmly.

"I can't believe it." muttered Kuradeel.

Then he said "Asuna, I don't know how but he cheated. You saw how he destroyed my sword. He must have used some kind of trick! There's no other way I could have lost to a pathetic beater like him."

Then Asuna said "Kuradeel, as second-in-command of the Knights of Blood Oath, I'm relieving you of your duties as my bodyguard. You're to return to headquarters and wait for further orders."

"You... you can't be serious!" he said.

Then turned to us "Damn you!" he said and walked onto the teleport gate.

"Teleport Granzam!"

Asuna said "Sorry, didn't mean to get you involved in all that."

At this point the crowd realized that there would be no more fighting and dispersed.

"No problem." Kirito said.

"So let's get to the dungeon?" I asked.

"Sure, the guild has been getting on my nerves a bit. I guess it's kind of my fault, I was pushing the whole guild so that we could get out of here faster." she said.

"Speaking of which, I'm taking the day off so you get to play forward." she said to Kirito.

"I always play forward with Sinon anyway." he said.

It was true, I used a bow, an archer doesn't really play forward.

In about half an hour we reached the dungeon because Asuna hadn't been on the tenth floor yet she couldn't teleport there.

We quickly used our map data to get to the 19th level, which was the latest one and started exploring it.

"You two are super-human." she said once we reached the 19th floor.

Neither Kirito nor I answered that.

* * *

 **(30 minutes later.)**

"Kirito, switch!" Asuna called and Kirito jumped in and finished the monster.

"Having a third person who knows how to fight can actually be helpful." Kirito said and I nodded.

"Hey you two, isn't that the staircase to the boss room?" Asuna asked pointing to a staircase just ahead of us.

Kirito and I nodded and we walked up the stairs.

"Let's check out the boss? Bosses never leave the boss room right?" asked Asuna.

"Yeah, but get a crystal ready just incase." Kirito said and pulled out a crystal, Asuna and I did as well.

We opened the door and walked in, it was dark but once they walked ten steps in blue torches lit up around the sides.

The light revealed a 5 meter tall beast with a long mouth with scary teeth, cobra tail, goat horns, dark blue fur, glowing blue eyes, and a VERY large great sword.

We all froze for a moment until it roared then we turned and ran, and irrationally ran down the stairs and back a long way until we reached the safe-zone on the 19th floor, then we realized that we had run way to far and stopped.

"Why did we run that far?" I asked, panting slightly.

"Primal instinct." Kirito answered, the only one of us who wasn't panting, because of his stupid ability to tell himself that breathing wasn't actually necessary here, or maybe because he can run that far in the real world, or both.

We all slumped against the wall and Kirito said "That one is going to be tough, we're gonna need at least 10 shield users switching out."

"Yeah, speaking of shield users, why do you hold your katana one-handed most of the time, all the other katana users including Leafa and Klein who are the next best after you hold their's two-handed." Asuna asked.

"In the real world he does Nito Ryu kendo, so he is used to holding a katana one-handed, even if he only has one." I said.

Kirito sent a glare my way and I smiled innocently.

"Okay. Well I expected we might be here a while so I brought something you two seem to like." Asuna said taking something out of her inventory.

It was sandwiches.

We ate them happily and just after we finished we heard people coming and jumped up.

It was Klein and his guild they walked in and saw us and then said "Oh hey! Long time no see."

Then noticed Asuna and said "I thought you two were duo players, what is she doing here?"

"She wanted to party with us for a day, we agreed for some unknown reason." I said.

Then he turned to Asuna and said "I'm Klein, 23 and sin-" he was cut off by Kirito punching him in the stomach.

"""""Leader!""""" cried out all his guild mates and swarmed around him.

Klein stood up and was about to say something when we heard another group coming, it was a group the size of two parties from ALF.

"At ease." said one with a red sash on his armor and all the others collapsed panting.

Then he walked up and introduced himself "Lieutenant Colonel Kobatz, Aincrad Liberation Force."

Kirito said "Kirito, duo."

"Right..." said Kobatz uncertainly, noticing a lot more then one other player here.

Then he asked "Have you mapped out the area up ahead?"

"Yes. All the way to the boss room." Kirito said.

"Will you please give us the map data?" he asked.

Before Kirito could answered Klein said "For free? Do you know how much of a pain in the ass mapping is?"

"The Aincrad Liberation Force splits resources evenly among all players to ensure that we get out of here as quickly as possible, therefor it is your duty to cooperate with us!" said Kobatz.

Klein was about to say something else but Kirito said "We were going to give the map data to everyone once we got back to town anyway, like we do with all our other map data."

He sent Kobatz the map data and Kobatz said "Thank you." without a hint of gratitude.

"If you're going to try to fight the boss I don't recommend it! Especially with your men in the shape they are now." I said

"My men are not so weak as to give up so soon! On your feet!" he said.

The men slowly and unsurely stood up then they all marched off behind him.

"Let's hope they don't try to fight the boss." I said.

"Maybe we should follow them just incase." Asuna said and Kirito and I nodded.

We walked along and saw no sight of them "Maybe they teleported out?" asked Klein, mostly to reassure himself.

Unfortunately at that moment we heard the sounds of fighting.

Kirito, Asuna and I took off at a run leaving Klein and his guild in the dust due to our far higher agility.

We ran up the stairs and saw the door open with the ALF people cornered by the boss, how they ended up like that I don't know.

"What are you doing?! Teleport out!" I yelled.

"We can't!" yelled one of them who was holding a teleport crystal.

A teleport trap, like the one that almost got the cats.

Kobatz yelled something and they stupidly charged forward.

Asuna ran forward and attacked the boss and Kirito tried to stop her but failed, looks like we will be going on a boss raid today.

She stabbed the boss and didn't damage it, but at least she got its attention.

It swung down at her once, and then twice and the second time she couldn't dodge.

Kirito practically appeared in front of her and blocked the sword with his, groaning as he took the blow.

Kirito and the boss kept trying to exchange blows but it was working, even with my arrow support and Kirito said "Guys, give me 10 seconds!" and jumped back.

Klein and Asuna holding off the boss, though it was clear that they wouldn't hold out for more then 10 seconds.

I saw a second sword appear on Kirito's back and released an arrow straight for the boss's head to give him a chance to switch with Asuna and Klein.

"Switch!" he yelled and Asuna and Klein retreated.

Then with both his swords, one shrouded in dark energy and the other in lightning, he unleashed an endless barrage of strikes that was faster then should be possible.

The boss hit him enough times to use up all use shadow phase ring's charges but he kept attacking ignoring the damage.

The only relief was that at this rate the boss should die before Kirito, barely.

The boss's hp dropped to but a sliver and so did Kirito's and there was a short boss.

Then both Kirito and the boss charged forward.

Kirito held off the boss's sword slightly with his lightning one and stabbed through the boss with Muramasa.

They both froze, then the boss shattered and Kirito collapsed.

I ran over and grabbed Kirito "Kirito! Kirito!" I shook him slightly.

He opened his eyes and groaned "Ouch. How long was I out?" he asked.

"A few seconds." I said and hugged him tight, crying and hiding it but burying my face in his shoulder, though he would probably notice.

"Don't ever do that again!" I said.

"I don't want to either." he said.

* * *

 **Shorter chapter this time, totally, totally.**

 **By that I meant longer chapter, obviously what did you think?**

 **And no I don't plan to make it harem with the hint of disappointment by the way!**

 **Nothing much else to say except please favorite, follow, and leave helpful reviews! :)**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	24. Chapter 24: Duel

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Sorry those of you who were hoping that because this was KiritoxSinon and not KirjtoxAsuna it would go on till floor 100, I'm stopping it at floor 75, you'll just have to see what I come up with.**

 **Hint: It isn't that interesting.**

 **Also I started this with a rewrite of the end of the last chapter from Kirito's POV, I know this was in the last chapter you'll see why when you read it.**

Chapter 24: Duel

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, October 31st, 11:43am)**

This was bad, at this rate the boss would kill all of us.

I guess I would need to reveal my 'Unique' skill to everyone, tomorrow was going to be hell.

I yelled "Guys, give me 10 seconds!"

Then I jumped back and started going through my inventory as quickly as I could looking for the right item, which in this case was my [Lightning Shard].

After nearly ten seconds I found and equipped it.

The moment the second sword appeared on my back Sinon created an opening for me to switch in.

"Switch!" I yelled to Asuna and Klein and they retreated.

Both my swords were surrounded my awesome looking special effects but I was to worried to pay much heed.

I charged forward and released a barrage of attacks on the boss.

With a quick glance to the upper-left I noticed that the boss was hitting me, but I didn't feel anything.

 _'Need to go faster!'_ I thought, though not at Sinon.

Suddenly the whole world lost part of it's color and the boss slowed down by a factor of 5 or so, and so did everything else, except me.

So to everybody else I'm probably moving 5 times faster now.

Well, no time to worry about that.

I unleashed a barrage of attacks again, the boss was able to hit me despite moving in slow motion because I wasn't bothering to try to dodge, just kill the boss already.

After a few moments the boss and I were both down to a sliver of health and I jumped back, though the moment I started doing so, the rest of the world returned to normal speed.

The boss was getting ready to charge forward with an overhead swing, if I charge forward and slow down its attack with my left hand I should be able to kill it before it kills me.

With that pleasant thought of 'should' I charged forward, bringing my left hand up.

The great sword crashed into my sword and I felt a crushing weight on my left hand.

With my right hand I stabbed forward and pierced through the boss.

Its HP vanished and it froze, then shattered.

My vision turned black and I collapsed.

"-to! Kirito!" I heard Sinon's voice and opened my eyes, I felt a throbbing pain over my whole body, unusual for just having taken damage, maybe the weird time slow thing.

I managed to groan out "Ouch. How long was I out?"

"A few seconds." Sinon said and then hugged me tightly.

I felt her tears on my shoulder and hugged her back "Don't ever do that again!" she said.

"I don't want to either." I answered.

"Do you guys want to go activate the next teleport gate?" Klein asked.

"No, I think we'll pass. You guys go on and do it." I said, mostly because Sinon probably didn't want people to see her crying.

"Okay." Asuna said.

"Before you go, how many casualties were there?" I asked.

"Two, counting Kobatz." Klein said.

"That's two more then we've lost in the previous 23 floors." I said sadly.

"That wasn't a boss fight, that was a suicide mission led by an idiot." Asuna said.

"Doesn't change anything. Well, go on ahead now." I said.

The latter part was so Sinon could get herself composed and we could get back to my house, I have a feeling I haven't seen the last of her scolding.

After everybody left including the ALF men and Klein's guild Sinon lifted her head from my shoulder.

"Don't you ever do that again! What would I do if you died?" asked Sinon.

"I don't die that easy." I said, though it wasn't really true, I could have died if my left sword was slightly off there probably, or I moved half a second later. And even as things happened I barely survived, but I don't think Sinon needs to know that right now.

"Right..." Sinon said and leaned her head on me again.

"We can't stay here forever, compose yourself a bit and we'll using our [Hiding] to get back to our house." I said.

"Right." Sinon said and lifted her head.

She wiped her face and went into her menu, putting on a cloak that gave a large skill boost in [Hiding] though it was incredibly inconvenient so she only used it when she needed the hiding skill.

For me my now [Cloak of Nothingness]—which was the 7 times transformed [Cloak of Midnight]—gave a large [Hiding] bonus, and a lot of other bonuses, and looked badass, and had probably the best defense for its weight of all current armors.

I activated my [Hiding] through the skill menu and so did Sinon.

We could still see each other as half-faded because we were in the same party but to other people unless they have a high [Detection] skill or high active [Search] skill—[Detection] being a passive skill alerting the player of nearby [Hiding] players—we would be invisible.

If a player with [Hiding] active teleports to other players there is no flash.

We walked through the beam of light and then I held Sinon's hand and muttered "Teleport Algade."

To us there was a flash of light but to others they would see nothing.

We walked along to roads and alleys to our house and walked in.

I turned off my hiding and Sinon took off her cloak.

"Well, we have until someone finds this place to ask me about my dual wielding. I'm gonna leave a poster on the door to go ask Argo, I'm sure she'll be happy with the hundreds of customers." I said.

"Yeah, well let's just sit down and talk about how you shouldn't ever do that again." Sinon said in an ever-so-sweat voice.

"I'll pass, I already got that." I said.

Sinon was about to say something but there was a knock on the door.

"Get yourself cleaned up." I whispered to Sinon, as there were still signs of her crying on her face.

She took out a small towel and wiped her face, and because this was SAO, there was no trace left behind.

I opened the door and saw... a lot of people.

"Where did you get that skill?"

"How did you get that skill?"

"How did you use two swords?"

"Shut up." I said bluntly and clearly, to no effect.

The questions continued.

 _'Sinon, let's go ask Asuna if we can use her place.'_ I thought to Sinon.

 _'Yeah, let's go.'_ she thought back.

I slammed the door, knowing that if we just stayed there they would keep knocking.

Then we both took out teleport crystals and said ""Teleport Selmburg."" quietly enough that the people outside wouldn't hear even though they knocked.

In a flash of light we appeared in the beautiful streets of Selmburg, and most importantly, there were almost no people.

Before anyone payed us any heed we activated [Hiding] and jumped to the nearest roof.

 _'Let's hurry before someone tells them where we are.'_ I thought to Sinon, who just nodded.

We ran at a pace as if we were being chased by the demons of hell, though it was pretty close to reality, though it was really just info brokers and swordsmen.

We reached Asuna's house and knocked.

She opened the door and saw something.

"Who knocks on someone's door with their [Hiding] skill active?" she asked.

I remembered and turned off my [Hiding] skill and said "Us."

"Why did you have your [Hiding] skill active?" asked Asuna.

"Guess what happens when you use a skill nobody has ever seen before?" I asked.

"Ohh..." Asuna said.

"And they somehow found our house, they probably asked Argo, though I don't see why they don't just ask her about the skill." Sinon said.

"And you're going to ask if you can stay at my house for a few days?" Asuna asked.

"Something like that." Sinon said awkwardly.

"Sure, but you two get to sleep in the living room, there are plenty of comfortable couches." she said.

"No problem with that." I said and Sinon nodded.

"Okay then, come in and close the door before someone notices." she said and dragged us inside.

"So have you guys had some food yet, you're probably hungry after SOLOING A BOSS!" Asuna said, the last part she sounded mad.

"Maybe duo killing a boss, and that with proper safety precautions, not running in there and coming so close to death a boar could kill you." Asuna said.

"Do I have to go through this again?" I asked.

""Yes."" said both Sinon and Asuna.

There was about 15 minutes of them repeating the same thing and I practically tuned them out.

"Are you even listening?" asked Asuna.

"Yes." I said, barely processing what she had said.

"Right..." Sinon said.

"Anyway, I think that's enough, he probably tuned us out about 15 minutes ago anyway." Sinon said.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" asked Asuna.

"Because it would be pointless, saying it once and saying a hundred times will have the same effect on him so whether or not he is listening doesn't really matter." Sinon said.

"But then why didn't you stop the whole previous 15 minutes from happening." Asuna asked.

"Because I was to mad with him nearly dying that I forgot to use my brain." Sinon said.

"Will you two stop arguing?" I asked, causing them to jump.

""Fine."" they both said at the same time.

"Good, now what were you saying about food?" I asked jokingly.

"We had sandwiches like two hours ago." Asuna said.

"And in those two hours we killed a floor boss if you don't remember, and while there is no real hunger, it feels like exertion, and thus I subconsciously think I'm hungry." I said.

"Ah whatever, all you ever do is fight, eat, and sleep." Asuna said.

""Pretty much."" Sinon and I said.

* * *

 **(November 1st, 3:03pm)**

Asuna was gone for guild business, as the only reason she was with us yesterday was because she was taking a break.

I had checked my skills and found an skill I don't recall putting there called [Infinite Moment], probably responsible for what happened during the boss fight.

As Sinon and I sat there wondering what to do Asuna burst in and said "Commander Heathcliff wants to talk with you two."

"Did he say why?" I asked.

"No he didn't." Asuna said.

"Well, I still see no harm in going." Sinon said.

"So you're going?" Asuna asked.

"Yeah, when?" I asked.

"Right now would be fine." Asuna said.

"Well, now we have something to do." I said.

We got up and head towards the teleport gate, thankfully no one was looking for us in Selmburg so we could get there easily and teleport to Granzam, where no one was really looking for us either, meaning that we managed to make the whole trip uninterrupted.

We went into the Knights of the Blood Oath Headquarters and all the guards moved out of the way for Asuna and us though some still hated us and sent glares.

We arrived to the main room and went in.

"Hello Heathcliff." I said after we walked in and Sinon did as well.

"Hello Kirito, Sinon, I don't belive we have met outside of boss fights and meetings yet have we?" Heathcliff said.

"No we have not." I said.

 _'I'll do most of the talking, okay?'_ I thought to Sinon.

 _'You know I don't like talking to people, of course there's no problem with that.'_ she thought back.

"I have a request, I want a duel with you. No stakes are necessary, I simply want to duel the only other person with a [Unique Skill]." he said.

"My skill is not unique, it is an [Extra Skill] acquired on the second floor, though I see how the mistake could be made as I seem to be the only one able to complete the quest." I said.

"I see, well if you are the only one able to complete the quest for whatever reason it is unique, even if it isn't technically a [Unique Skill]. Anyway, will you accept the duel request?" he said.

 _'Should I?'_ I thought at Sinon.

 _'Sure, no stakes means that even if you lose it just means people will leave us alone. And if you win, well we already have a bunch of attention right now, can't get much worse.'_ she answered.

"Okay, when do you want to duel?" I asked.

"Tomorrow will do, whatever time is convenient for you as long as it is past midday." he said.

"Midday will be fine." I said.

"See you then, let us have our fight at the coliseum on the latest floor. Seems like a perfect place." he said.

"That will be fine. Is that all?" I said.

"Yes, I believe so." he said.

"See you tomorrow then." I said and Sinon and I turned and left.

Asuna followed after and once we got outside and teleported to the 75th floor to go to the dungeon she said "How do you talk to him like that? He speaks in a way that makes you feel like he is royalty."

"I've dealt with a person like that before." I said, specifically I was referring to Kayaba, but she didn't really need to know that.

"Oh, okay." she said.

* * *

 **(November 2nd, 11:56)**

We were at the colosseum, waiting for midday, and so were **over a thousand** other people.

"I wasn't told that this was a fundraising event." I said to Asuna who was waiting with us.

"Neither was I, though I am guessing it is our funds manager's idea." she said.

"Okay..." I said.

I decided that I'd ask for a cut of the money, not that we really needed it but because we weren't told there would be a crowd.

"Well, I think it's time." I said, once it was 11:59.

I walked out into the arena and saw Heathcliff walking out from the other side.

"I apologize for this turning into such a large event, that was not my intention." he said.

"Well, then I expect a cut in the profit." I said.

"Well, why don't we add some stakes to this, winner gets two-thirds of the money and loser gets a third." he said.

"Sure." I said.

Then I sent him a duel request, half-death mode.

He accepted and the timer started counting down.

As it reached 3 I said "Good luck."

"Same to you." answered Heathcliff.

2...

1...

GO!

I charged forward and he blocked with his shield.

Whenever I swung he would block with his shield, whenever he swung I would block with one of my swords.

Both my HP and his were slowly going down at a comparable rate.

If this continued it would be practically chance who would win.

I sped up my strikes, switching from blocking mostly to dodging mostly, blocking only if I fail to dodge.

This made my HP chip away slower and his faster.

Strike after strike, block after block, even at this rate, this was going nowhere.

I decided to try something, that was to use my sword's ability to turn in a bird.

I sent my bird to attack him from behind and switched to a double-handed grip.

He blocked the bird but as a result I managed to land a far cleaner blow then any so far, dealing enough damage that I would have won a first-strike match.

The crowd cheered some.

He brought his defense back up and started fighting more carefully, the bird attack had a cooldown, but the damage had been done, I was ahead on HP so if we had kept the previous pace I would win.

Unfortunately I got a bit greedy and over extended slightly, creating enough of an opening from him to remove the HP gap and we were back to square one.

The crowd cheered again, so they weren't for me but just for excitement, unsurprisingly.

"You're good." I said.

"You likewise." he said.

Well, now or never, I thought and rushed forward, I unleashed a barrage of attacks, attempting to overwhelm his defense through pure frontal offense.

The nice thing was that he was to busy blocking to be able to strike back so nothing like what happened at the boss fight should happen.

Eventually his shield was slightly off and got shoved completely to the side, along with his sword leaving him completely defense less.

I jumped forward to slash but... time froze, all of it except his shield.

This wasn't the same as my skill, or I would simply have seen him speed up.

There was only one thing this could be, the system over-assist mode, an option admins have. In other words, Heathcliff was Kayaba.

I thought _'I have to go faster!'_ and this time everything except me slowed down, my skill activating as I had wanted.

I kept concentrating until the shield slowed down to a manageable speed and struck out with my sword, but not to win as I could at this point put simply to save myself.

I pushed off his shield and flew to the side.

This would be my best chance to check if I was right, use some complicated sword skill that he would have no way to know unless he was Kayaba and see how he blocks it.

The moment I touched the ground time returned to normal speed and surprise was written in giant letters on everybody's faces, including Heathcliff, but not me.

Well, now or never.

I charged forward and activated a sword skill, to Sinon's probable surprise.

The sword skill was a long two-katana combo that was incredibly hard to predict and had a ridiculous amount of feints, the perfect skill to test my theory.

And as I had expected he ignored all the feints the moment the swing started and only blocked the real ones, this was evidence enough for me and I'm the only person I'm convincing.

The sword skill finished and he lashed out, I activated [Infinite Moment] again and charged forward, striking shoulder enough to bring his just-over-half HP into the yellow.

The duel instantly ended and on the giant banner read

 **Match winner: Kirito**

 **Time: 00:06:34**

"Congratulations, you fight well." Heathcliff said.

"And you as well." I said.

I finished saying this just before the crowd processed what happened and the noise exploded.

I retreated back to where Sinon was and also where it was relatively quiet.

The moment I looked around and saw that Asuna was no longer there, perfect.

"Why did you use a sword skill? You never do and it didn't help you, also how did you move that fast, speaking of which, how did he move that fast?" Sinon asked overwhelming me with questions.

"Let's start with how I moved that fast." I said and opened my menu, then showed it to Sinon.

"[Infinite Moment]? When did you get that and why didn't you tell me?" she asked.

"I got it I don't know when but I first used it on accident during the 74th boss fight. Then I found it in my skill list yesterday, I wasn't sure what it was exactly so I didn't mention it." I said.

"Okay, fine I'll take that for now. Onto the other two." she said.

I thought to here _'The rest will be in telepathy.'_

 _'Okay. I won't ask why, I'm sure it will become apparent.'_

 _'Sword skill was to test a theory. Did you notice how he didn't fall for any of the feints even for a fraction of a second?'_

 _'Yeah, but it is possible that he knew the skill.'_

 _'No, it isn't, or, it is but shouldn't be. The skill requires a [Katana] skill of 900 plus the Nito Ryu skill. I am fairly certain I am the only person meeting either of those prerequisites. That leaves only one way for him to know it.'_

 _'And what's that?'_

 _'Don't tell this to anyone, definitely not Asuna, okay?'_

 _'Fine.'_

 _'Heathcliff is Kayaba.'_

 _'WHAT?'_

 _'How he moved that fast is called system over-assist mode. That is what I suspected so I tested my theory with the sword skill, which also confirmed it. I am sure enough to act on it, though at some future time.'_

 _'I see why Asuna shouldn't know it, or anyone, if word reaches him it could cause problems. When do we act on it?'_

 _'I don't know yet.'_

 _'Hey, I have an idea, why don't we just leave the front lines for week or two, go to the 22nd floor and buy that cabin we saw if it is still available. With finding out that one of the strongest players is Kayaba and you nearly dying we should take a break.'_

"Okay." I said in words this time.

"Let's go to the 22nd floor and see if the cabin is still available, if it is we'll tell Asuna someone else can clear the boss dungeon for once, though we will be there for the boss fight, whenever that is." she said.

* * *

 **You thought I would forget about Yui and that whole part,** **didn't you?**

 **Well guess what, I didn't.**

 **I considered doing things slightly differently but decided that it wouldn't work well with the Kirito in my story.**

 **Please tell me what you thought of this chapter and follow and favorite!**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	25. Chapter 25: Morning Dew Part 1

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Hi, Yui makes an appearance! Sorry if this chapter isn't** **great.**

 **Also sorry REALLY short chapter, part 2 will hopefully be in the form of a bonus chapter though.**

 **I was considering not having this because I'm not sure how to write it but once I decided that I would have ALO, Yui would be necessary character so I decided to write this.**

Chapter 25: Morning Dew Part 1

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, November 2nd, 4:32pm)**

"Well, do you think we should get it?" I asked Sinon referring to the beautiful log cabin we were standing in front of.

"Yes! It's awesome!" Sinon said excitedly.

We walked up to the house and pressed 'buy'.

We had a ridiculous amount of money so we were able to afford this house fairly easily, even though it was one of the more expensive houses everywhere except Selmburg, which was more expensive.

The house was a cozy cabin with a beautiful view of the giant lake near the center floor 22, the only floor so far where the main settlement wasn't in the middle.

We walked into the cabin and onto the porch, which had a quite sheer drop-off into the water.

We leaned on the railing and Sinon... leaned a bit farther then I think is safe "Careful, it would be a rather stupid way to die you know." I said.

"I don't plan on falling and if I did I would probably survive." she said but still got into a safer position.

"So what do we plan on doing in this time?" I asked Sinon, whose idea it had originally been.

"We could go walk in the forest." Sinon said, I had heard that there was some form of 'ghosts' there that were not a type of monsters, could be interesting to see.

"Okay." I said, going into my inventory and removing all my 'armor' and weapons, leaving me in comfortable clothes.

The monsters on this floor wouldn't really be a problem anyway.

Sinon did the same, but she also decided to put on a nice pale-yellow sweater I hadn't seen before, well I hadn't seen Sinon wear a sweater before in SAO.

"When did you get that sweater?" I asked.

"I forget, a little while ago. Do you like it?" she answered.

"I think it's nice, but for a sweater being warm and comfortable is more important I think." I said.

"Thanks." she said and hugged me.

I hugged her back, wishing for this moment to continue, just Sinon and me.

We stood there in silence for seemed like a while, though it was probably just a few minutes.

Eventually Sinon let go and I let go of her.

"Well, let's get going?" I asked.

"Sure." Sinon answered and we started walked out the door and started walking in the direction of the forest.

It only took us a minute or two to get there.

It was beautiful and eerie at the same time, with the trees stretching up high blocking out almost all sunlight.

After a few minutes walking Sinon said "Can I ride on your back?"

"Isn't that a bit childish?" I asked, though truly I had no objection.

"It's not like there is anyone around to see us anyway." she said.

"Okay, if you really want to." I said, leaning down so she could get on.

Sinon climbed onto my back and I stood up "Okay hang on but try not to choke me." I said as Sinon hugged me and locked her legs around me to hang on.

We walked along the path and I said "I heard from some of the NPCs and players around this area that there were ghosts in this area of the forest."

"Like astral type monsters?" Sinon asked in a hopeful but slightly spooked voice.

"Nope, there was a carpenter player out in these woods to get wood and he saw a ghostly pale girl in a brilliantly white dress that seemed to glow slightly." I said.

I could literally feel Sinon shiver slightly.

Sinon turned to the side and then froze.

"You okay?" I asked.

"G-ghost." she muttered and pointed to the right.

I looked over and saw what looked like a little girl in a ghostly white dress.

Then suddenly she collapsed.

"I don't think that's a ghost." I said and put Sinon down.

Then we ran over and saw a girl who looked to be about 7 or so.

She was collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

"Is she okay?" asked Sinon.

"I don't know, the it is strange that she doesn't have a cursor. Let's take her back with us and wait for her to wake up." I said.

"Sure." Sinon answered.

I picked the girl up gently and there was no harassment warning and no quest log update so she wasn't an NPC.

"Let's go back?" I asked.

Sinon nodded and we set off on our short way back.

Once we got back we set her on one of the two beds and let her sleep, hoping that she would wake up sometime soon.

"I guess we're sleeping in the other bed." said Sinon and I nodded.

"What should we do the rest of the day? We should stay home incase she wakes up, so we need to pass the time somehow. Do you know how to play go?" I asked.

"I know the rules, but I don't play very well." she answered.

"Okay, I'll teach you then." I said and went into my inventory to take out a go board I bought sometime back and the stones as well.

* * *

 **Sorry that this chapter is really short, I'll try to put up part 2 as a bonus chapter, but I really need to get some sleep.**

 **Please don't hate me!**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	26. Chapter 26: Morning Dew Part 2

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Sorry that last chapter was so short, that is why this will be posted as a bonus chapter!**

Chapter 26: Morning Dew Part 2

* * *

 **(1st person, Kirito, November 2nd, 9:04pm)**

"You're getting pretty good at this." I said to Sinon after our 4th game of go.

"Thanks to you teaching me." she answered.

"Do you want to play again or should we go to bed?" I asked.

"Let's go to bed, hopefully the girl will be awake by tomorrow." Sinon answered and I nodded.

* * *

 **(November 3rd, 9:06am)**

"Wake up Kirito!" I heard and opened my eyes.

The little girl we found in the forest yesterday had woken up.

We walked over to her.

"Hi, what's your name?" asked Sinon awkwardly.

"My name? My name is Yui... I think." Yui said.

"You think? What were you doing in that forest, were you there with your parents?" Sinon asked.

"I don't remember." she said sadly.

 _'I think she has some form of amnesia.'_ I thought to Sinon.

Sinon thought back _'Seems like it, later today let's take her down to the [Town of Beginnings] and see if anyone remembers her.'_

I nodded and said to Yui "My name is Kirito."

Then I pointed to Sinon and said "This is Sinon."

"Kito? Sion?" said Yui.

"Ki-ri-to, Si-non." I said as clearly as possible.

"Kito? Sion?" said Yui.

"Just call us whatever is easiest for you." I said.

"Papa! Mama!" Yui said.

Sinon and I looked at each other awkwardly.

"I'm papa?" I asked.

"Kito papa! Sion mama!" Yui said.

"Okay, we'll be your parents for now." I said, it wasn't like we had much choice.

"Yay!" said Yui and hugged me.

"I'm sure you're hungry, you haven't eaten in a while probably." I said.

 _'Kirito, you know I can't cook...'_ Sinon thought at me.

 _'In the real world I would alternate with Leafa cooking dinner, so if I use the 'manual' mode it should turn out fine.'_ I thought back to her.

 _'You? Cooking? That doesn't sound possible.'_ Sinon thought at me cruelly.

 _'What makes you think that?'_ I asked sarcastically.

I went to the kitchen and made some sandwiches, which turned out fine, though worse then Asuna's.

Yui ate them all very fast, slowing down towards the end.

Then she went to sleep.

"She looks adorable." Sinon said, referring to the sleeping Yui, who acted much younger then she looked, which wasn't all that surprising if she lost her memories.

"After she wakes up let's take her to the [Town of Beginnings] and see if anyone knows her." I said.

"Sounds like a good idea, if she logged in here with any family they would be really worried right now." Sinon said.

* * *

 **(1 hour later)**

Yui finally woke up.

"Yui, let's see go to the first floor and see if anyone knows you or if something causes you to remember." I said.

"Okay!" said Yui, cheerfully as ever.

"She's more cheerful then Leafa." muttered Sinon to which I nodded.

I picked up Yui and had her ride on my neck, then we set off in the direction of the main town.

Once we arrived and stood on the teleport gate a I said "Teleport Town of Beginnings!" and after a flash of light we appeared in the Town of Beginnings.

We started walking and I asked Yui "Does any of this look familiar to you?"

"No." Yui said.

That is strange, every player was here at the very start of the game when Kayaba announced that this was a death game.

We started walking down the streets when Sinon asked "Don't you think it is a bit desolate? Of the remaining seven and a half thousand people about 30% live in the Town of Beginnings, so where are they?"

"Probably in their houses for whatever reason." I said.

Suddenly we heard "Let the children go!" coming from an alley nearby.

Sinon and I looked at each other, nodded, and started running in the direction of the sound, me holding onto Yui tightly to make sure she didn't fall off.

Yui seemed to enjoy the ride.

We ran around the corner and saw three people from ALF blocking the way of a woman about to grab her sword.

We jumped over the ALF soldiers and saw 3 children with their stuff on the floor.

"Don't interfere with ALF business!" said the ALF soldier in the center.

"'Business'?" I asked sarcastically.

"This looks more like extortion of children." Sinon said.

"Put your gear back on." I said to the children.

"You don't seem to understand how things work around here." said the ALF officer.

Sinon's dagger appeared in her hand after a few button taps.

"You'll live through this, probably..." Sinon said in a scary voice.

With she ran forward and repeatedly attacked the officer, we were in a safe zone so he didn't take damage and her cursor didn't turn orange, but from his perspective it would be somewhat painful and very scary.

He was being hit in the face with a dagger 4 or 5 times per second after all.

After a bit Sinon got bored and hit him much harder, sending him flying.

"Next time it will be a duel." she said coldly and sent him flying with a [Martial Arts] skill kick.

"Don't just stand there! Do something!" yelled the officer to his men, they did decide to do something, they turned and ran away.

The officer scrambled up and followed them.

"Thank you." said the women.

"No problem." Sinon said.

"My name is Sasha. What are your's?" said the women.

"I'm Sinon." Sinon said.

"And I'm Kirito." I said.

"Would you like some tea?" asked Sasha.

"Yes please." said Sinon.

"Come with me then, I made the church into a place for all the children to stay." she said.

Good, she might know about Yui then.

We were about to follow her back when Yui muttered something and then collapsed with the area around us glitching and static overriding all other noise.

After a moment it stopped.

We followed Sasha back to the church and when we entered we saw a LOT of children there, like 40 or 50.

We put Yui to bed in one of the guest beds and then sat down at a rather small wooden circular table and Sasha gave us some tea..

"Thank you for helping." she said.

"No problem, we never liked the ALF anyway." Sinon said.

"You obviously don't live on this floor, so where are you from?" she asked.

"We're from the front lines, we were taking a break. By the way, do you think you would recognize most of the children on this floor?" I asked.

"Yes." she answered.

"Have you seen Yui before? We found her on the 22nd floor and she seems to have lost her memories." I said.

"No, I go around this city daily looking for children but I haven't seen anyone like her." Sasha said.

I was about to say something when Yui came out of the room she was staying in.

"Hey Yui." said Sinon and walked over to her.

"Hey." Yui said and hugged Sinon.

Before anything else could happen there was a knock on the door.

Sasha walked over and opened it and on the other side there was a silver haired woman in what looked to be some form of ALF uniform.

"Hello." she said.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am Yulier of the Aincrad Liberation Force." she said.

"Are you here about earlier today?" I asked.

"In a way, but not in the way you think." Yulier said.

"I wanted to than you for putting those men in their place, what they were doing is not what ALF was created for." she said.

"And also I would like to ask for help." she said.

"What do you need help with?" I asked skeptically.

"A man named Kibaou rose to power and created what ALF is today." she said.

Okay, this story was getting more believable now. If I recall correctly Kibaou is the reason everyone hates us.

"When people started complaining that we weren't helping clear the game enough he took the strongest players and made a party and sent them to the front lines, they were led by a man named Kobatz." she said.

Those idiots that led to me soloing the floor boss.

"When they were defeated he was getting a lot of flak and he was almost kicked from the guild, so he took to desperate measures and told Thinker that he wanted to talk to him unarmed." she said.

"Kibaou lured him into a dungeon unarmed and trapped him there with no way out, the dungeon is very high level and opened up after the 50th floor was cleared. When I heard that two very high level players had showed up I wanted to ask you to help me get him out." she said.

Sinon and I looked skeptical but Yui said "It's okay, she's telling the truth."

"You can tell?" asked Sinon.

"I don't know how, but I know it." said Yui.

"Oh what the hell, I'd rather believe her and be wrong then not believe her and regret it." I said and Sinon nodded.

"Okay, we'll help. Yui you stay here with Sasha until we come back, okay?" I said.

"NO! I'm coming with you!" said Yui.

Sinon and I looked at each other.

Then Sinon said "Fine, but stay with me, okay?"

"Okay!" said Yui cheerfully.

* * *

 **(Sinon, 11:03am)**

We arrived at the dungeon which had a hidden entrance near the [Monument of Life].

We stood in front of the dungeon and after a second or two Yui said "I'm not scared!" with determination.

Kirito and I laughed slightly and Yui pouted.

We walked into the dungeon and the enemies were really weak.

"These enemies are really weak." I said.

"They get stronger as you go along, also they may be weak for you but they are definitely A LOT stronger then anything on this floor." she said.

And indeed after a bit of walking the monsters started taking some killing, which Kirito was doing the most of.

I wasn't really helping because he didn't need it and because I was making sure Yui doesn't go anywhere and Yulier wasn't helping because she couldn't.

After a while of fighting Yulier said "We have nearly reached his location, he hasn't moved from there in 3 days so he is probably in a safe zone, we can teleport out once we get there."

We turned a corner and saw a well-lit room, which was probably a safe zone, but the corridor widened before it which I had a bad feeling about.

Apparently so did Kirito, but Yulier didn't.

She ran forward and yelled "Thinker!"

"""Wait! STOP!""" yelled Kirito, Thinker, and I.

But she didn't stop in time and a giant scythe came down on her, Kirito appearing there just in time to block it.

Yulier made it to the safe zone and Kirito yelled "Get Yui to the safe zone!" to me.

I did as he said and took Yui to the safe zone, then got my bow out and shot the boss so Kirito could retreat.

I caught a glimpse of the boss's name, it was called [The Fatal Scythe].

Kirito jumped back and said "That thing could be from the 90th floor."

We were fighting a boss, with the power of a boss from the 90th floor, this couldn't end well.

Kirito drew his second sword and ran forward, slashing at the boss.

He managed to hit it repeatedly, but its HP barely went down.

Then the boss swung down and Kirito couldn't dodge, so he 'blocked' with his crossed swords.

The boss's scythe hit his swords and he instantly lost more then half his HP and was thrown back into me hard enough that my HP dropped below half.

Somehow we both ended up stunned.

This was not good...

Then Yui walked out from the safe zone.

"Yui! What are you doing?" I yelled.

"It's okay. I remember now." Yui said and walked forward.

The boss swung its scythe at her and the scythe... bounced off thin air with an [Immortal Object] message.

The scythe was stunned by its attack being blocked and didn't attack again.

Then Yui floated into the air and her clothes changed back to the white dress they found her in.

A sphere of fire appeared in her right hand and extended into the form of a sword, then it hardened into a burning sword made of red metal.

Yui swung the sword down onto the boss which tried to block, but the scythe was surrounded by tendrils of flame.

The tendrils crawled along the scythe covering the the whole thing in fire, then proceeding to the boss itself.

After several seconds the whole boss was covered in flames then the flames shrunk to nothing, deleting the boss.

I say deleting not killing because it hadn't died, there were no polygons of something shattering after its HP or durability reached zero, it just vanished with no trace.

Then the sword vanished and Yui dropped to the ground.

We all walked into the safe zone.

"You said you remembered?" I asked.

"Yes, Kirito, Sinon." she said, pronouncing our names right.

"The system Cardinal that runs this world is responsible for caring for the world. Including the mental health of players. Mental Health Counseling Program Prototype 001, Yui, that's who I am."

"You're an AI?" I asked.

"Yes, I was designed to take care of players, that is why I was given the ability to emulate emotions." said Yui, crying slightly. I hugged her.

"For reasons I never understood on the official launch date Cardinal prevented me from interacting players so all I could do was watch, their mental state, was in a word, terrible." Yui said.

"Slowly errors piled up inside me until one day I saw two players with different emotions then anyone else, joy, peace and something else... I wandered through the playing field, hoping to get as close to both of you as I could without being detected."

"So that's why you were in the forest." I said.

"Yes, that's why. I've wanted to meet the two of you for the longest time. That's strange, isn't it? It should be impossible for me to think things like that. I'm not human. I'm a program after all." said Yui, crying a bit more now.

"Your emotions are real even if you were created by someone." I said.

"I don't know, I'm confused. I don't know what's happened to me." Yui said.

Then Yui said "What I want... I want... I wanna stay with you forever... Daddy... Mommy..."

"We will, we'll be together." said Kirito and hugged Yui, and me in the process.

"It's too late." Yui said.

"For what?" asked Kirito.

"Look." Yui said, tapping on what looked like an obsidian bench in the middle of the room.

A keyboard of blue lines appeared in the air above it, along with a display with some nonsense information, Kirito didn't look very surprised.

"This is actually a console the GM can use to gain emergency access to the system. I used it to delete the monster in the corridor. And now, because I disobeyed the Cardinal's directive, the system is running a check on my program. It thinks I'm a foreign object now. I'll probably be deleted at once."

Yui then started fading "Don't go Yui!" I yelled.

"Stay happy please." said Yui and then shattered into light.

Kirito rushed over to the console and started typing something.

There was a progress bar on the screen and it was filling up, just before it filled up Kirito pressed enter on the keyboard.

Just after that the bar filled up and there was a flash of blue light that sent Kirito flying to the end of the room.

I ran over to him and asked "Are you alright Kirito?"

He raised a hand and dropped a blue tear drop into my hand.

"What is it?" I asked.

"It's Yui's Heart, I took the Yui's program and made it into a game object. It is saved to my NerveGear so once we get out I can create an environment that she can work in and we can restore her." Kirito said.

I couldn't help but smile at that, just all the more reason to get out of here.

* * *

 **How was that? Decent? I hope so.**

 **Please tell me what you think with a review!**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	27. Chapter 27: Collapsing

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **This may or may not be the last Aincrad chapter.**

 **Sorry that last chapter sucked, I'm not great at writing that kinda of stuff, also I want them to get more in-love as the story goes on, which doesn't really happen past the Aincrad arc in the canon.**

 **I will try to do better in the future.**

Chapter 27: Collapsing

* * *

 **(1st person, Asuna, November 13th, 5:03pm)**

Clearing the dungeon took so long without Kirito and Sinon, but after nearly two weeks it was cleared.

And what came after was terrible.

The half the 20 man scouting party was trapped in the boss room—which didn't allow teleport crystals or leaving by foot—and then in **5 minutes** the boss had killed all of them, then vanished mysteriously because once the doors opened 5 minutes later there was no sign of the people or the boss, and they hadn't teleported out.

This was going to be the toughest boss yet, by far.

Heathcliff had asked her to message Kirito and Sinon, it was annoying to have to bring them back to the front lines after less then two weeks, but I didn't have much choice.

They were definitely needed for this boss fight.

I composed and sent a message to Kirito and Sinon that read _"Kirito,_ _Sinon, you are going to need to come back for this boss. Half the 20 man scouting party got trapped in the boss room because the doors closed and it was an anti-teleport or anti-crystal area, the door opened 5 minutes later and there was no sign of scouting party or boss. The boss killed ten people in 5 minutes and then vanished."_

Ten seconds later I got a reply from Kirito that said _"Okay, we're coming."_

I could guess that it was written quite reluctantly.

Half an hour later there was a knock on my door.

I opened the door and saw Kirito and Sinon.

""Hi."" they both said at the same time.

"Hey." I said awkwardly, feeling somewhat bad about calling them back from their well deserved vacation.

"So, when is the boss fight?" asked Sinon.

"The boss meeting is in 15 minutes on the 75th floor." I said.

"Then let's hurry." Kirito said.

I walked into my house for a moment to put on my armor then walked back out.

"Okay, I'm ready." I said.

We walked to the teleport gate and teleported to the 75th floor.

We arrived at the boss meeting just in time to see Heathcliff walk onto the stage.

"Welcome to the 73rd boss meeting to discuss the defeat of the 75th boss." he said.

I realized that the difference between the two numbers was caused by the duo next to me.

"This will be the hardest boss so far." he said.

Before he continued a heard Kirito mutter "And hopefully the last."

What he meant by that I had no idea, as this was only the 75th floor and not the 100th one, but I would probably find out.

"All we know about this boss is that if the monsters in the dungeon are similar to it like in the previous milestone bosses it will be some form of skeletal centipede. The scouting party of ten that went in was trapped and then killed in 5 minutes. The only plan we have is to gather as many strong players as we can and hope that all of us survive." he said.

"We will meet tomorrow at the teleport gate on this floor at 1pm, bring good potions because it may be an anti-crystal and not just an anti-teleport zone." he said.

"Really that's all? The useful parts could have been summarized in 5 minutes." I heard Sinon say, guess they were still annoyed.

* * *

 **(November 14th, 12:56pm)**

I arrived at the meeting point and saw Kirito and Sinon chatting with Klein and Egil.

I heard Kirito say "Well, if you're so generous and selfless why don't we take you off the drop list?"

"No, no, I wouldn't go that far." Egil said and couldn't help but giggle slightly.

"Oh hey Asuna!" I heard Sinon say.

"Hey Sinon, let's hope we all get through this alive." I said.

"Indeed." Kirito said.

We chatted a few minutes until Heathcliff showed up.

"Corridor open!" he said after taking a corridor crystal out of his inventory.

The by now familiar portal opened and everyone walked through to the boss door.

Kirito and Sinon both whistled slightly at the sight of the boss door, which was enormous.

"This will be our hardest fight yet, and if we fail, it is likely no one else will be able to succeed." Heathcliff said.

"But nonetheless, we must continue **for our day of liberation!** " he yelled the last part.

Then he walked over to the door and opened it.

It was a large room, and that's all, no boss, nothing.

Suddenly there was a sound like bones hitting each other above us.

I looked up and saw... a giant skeletal centipede with a weird human-like 4 glowing red eyes, and froze with fear.

Thankfully Sinon didn't "Everybody! MOVE!" she yelled and snapped me out of my stupor.

Everyone ran in all directions to the edges of the room as the giant boss dropped down.

It didn't hit anyone but a pair of people were frozen with fear.

"Move!" yelled Kirito, they started running but the boss lashed out with one of its 4 bone scythes, chopping them both in half and sending them flying.

They shattered before they hit the ground.

"In one hit..." muttered Klein.

"Man, we are soooo screwed." said Egil.

The boss was about to chop down another person but its scythe slammed into Heathcliff's shield.

Then unlike a most bosses which would have started attacking Heathcliff now, the [Skull Reaper]—whose name I finally noticed—ignored him and attacked the person behind Heathcliff with a different scythe, only to have it block by a pair of crossed swords.

"Run!" Kirito yelled to the person.

"We'll hold the scythes, everybody else, attack the sides!" Kirito yelled and pushed back against the scythes.

Sinon's arrow slammed into one of the boss's four eyes and dealt considerable damage, also causing the boss's scythes to be successfully pushed back by both Heathcliff and Kirito.

Then people started attacking the sides and the boss's hp started to drain away, this was possible.

Each time the boss swung its scythes they would be intercepted by Kirito's swords or Heathcliff's shield.

Sometimes they would by thrown off course by Sinon's arrows.

After about half an hour the boss lost its first HP bar.

The moment it did it swung its tail and killed 2 people, hitting Egil's arm by chance and not killing him.

"If you're about to be hit try to at least block with your arms!" he yelled.

From then on the boss fight continued, the boss would periodically swing its tail and when it did everyone would dodge.

The boss was almost in the red of its last bar and it was a little over two hours after the start of the fight, we had lost 5 people total so far.

The moment the boss got in the red its scythes started spinning and flew off of the arms holding them, flying around the whole boss and killing two people and removing a few limbs form others.

Then the scythes returned to the arms holding them and it launched a relentless barrage of attacks on Kirito and Heathcliff.

Anyone who approached was almost instantly swung at by the tail, meaning that the boss's HP wasn't really going down any more.

Kirito said "Heathcliff, can you get me 5 seconds?"

Heathcliff nodded and Kirito jumped back.

He re-gripped his swords and drank a potion then jumped forward and a ridiculously high speed perfectly dodging all the scythes by moving just enough.

He slammed into the boss with both swords and then started attack ridiculously fast like he did during his duel with Heathcliff and during the [Gleam Eyes] fight.

The boss's HP started to melt away and just before the boss died it finally hit him sending him flying.

He had managed to block so he was still in the yellow on HP, though near the red, but the boss had switched to defense and that wouldn't work again.

Sinon fired several arrows at the boss in quick succession but all were blocked.

Kirito and Sinon locked eyes for a second, probably using their telepathy rings.

Then Sinon started firing a barrage of arrows as fast as she could caring little for accuracy.

Kirito's sword turned into a raven before being surrounded by a glow similar to the glow his sword had earlier and flew forward faster then Sinon's arrows.

The boss didn't see it in time because it was busy blocking Sinon's arrows and the raven slammed into the boss's forehead.

The remaining HP vanished and the boss shattered to nothing.

* * *

 **The end... sorry for the cliffhanger.**

 **Sorry for the short chapter, no excuse.**

 **I lied, here is the rest.**

* * *

 **(Sinon, 3:30pm)**

Kirito and I sat back to back, this had been a tough fight and we had lost 7 people.

If Kirito was right though, those would be the last people to die in this game.

 _'Kirito, take a quick break before attacking him.'_ I reminded Kirito to make sure he didn't get himself killed.

 _'Yeah, yeah.'_ he thought back.

After a few minutes Kirito got up.

Then he drew his sword and ran at Kayaba at a ridiculous speed before anyone could say anything.

'Heathcliff' tried to raise his shield but Kirito was faster and redirected his sword, making sure it was still aimed at a non-lethal area incase he was wrong.

The sword passed a centimeter from the shield and then stopped.

It had crashed into something, but that something was not 'Heathcliff's' sword, or shield, or armor, it was a purple message saying [Immortal Object]

Everyone froze.

"C-commander what is the meaning of this?" asked Asuna shakily.

Before he could answer Kirito said "The reason his HP never drops into the yellow is because he is protected by the system, isn't that right **Kayaba?** "

The people who had started breathing froze... again...

Kayaba didn't deny it or even say anything for about 15 seconds then said "Yes that is correct, I am Kayaba Akihiko and knowing that it will come as no surprise to you that I am the final boss waiting for you at the ruby palace on the 100th floor. May I ask how you figured it out?"

Kirito said "You may as well have told me during our duel. First with that movement and then with ignoring all the feints on that sword skill I used."

"Ah yes, you overwhelmed me and forced me to use the system over-assist, I guess that [Unique Skill] you have is too powerful, because it let you beat me any way. I wondered why you used that sword skill." Heathcliff answered.

"You! How could you! We trusted you!" Yelled a random person and charged forward, before anyone could say anything Kayaba went into his menu and pressed a few buttons.

The player charging at him dropped to the floor with the paralysis effect next to his name.

A few presses later everyone except Kirito was paralyzed, including me.

"Are you going to kill us all and cover it up?" asked Kirito.

"No, that wouldn't be very good sportsmanship now would it. I will wait for you at the ruby palace, during this time I think I have made quite a good guild, I expect to see you all there soon." he said.

"But first, as your reward for figuring out my identity, you can duel me here, one on one, to the death, if you kill me all remaining players will be logged out immediately, if you lose, I will move onto to the ruby palace and await the arrival of the other players. Naturally I will remove my invincibility." he said.

Klein, Egil, Leafa, Horum, Asuna and all our other friends were yelling at him not to accept, but this was basically our plan, and while I half wanted him to stop myself, this was to good a chance "You can do it Kirito!" I yelled to the surprise of the others.

He gave me a joking look that said 'if you say so.' and then said out loud "I accept."

Kayaba went into his menu and tapped some buttons, above his head appeared a [Changed into Mortal Object] message and then his and Kirito's HP both dropped to an amount where one good hit would be lethal.

He sent Kirito a duel request for whatever reason with a full-death win condition.

Kirito accepted and a timer started counting down.

Kirito got in a stance a moment before the timer reached zero and once it did he charged forward.

The moment their swords clashed he sped up, the real [Unique Skill] of his, the one Kayaba had referred to and not the one people thought Kayaba was referring to, his dual wielding.

Kirito's swords moved faster then the eye could follow with exact precision.

Kayaba's movement were equally precise and he blocked all of Kirito's blows, only minor scratches practically not lowering his health got through.

Suddenly Kirito sped up again and became a blur, Kayaba's health started to drain a bit.

Kayaba's shield glowed with the light of a sword skill and moved forward to meet Kirito's sword, throwing him off balance.

Kirito's left sword crashed into the shield and shattered.

Then Kayaba ran Kirito through with his sword and said "Good fight."

"It's not over yet." said Kirito with a smile as he was about to shatter.

KIRITO! I tried to yell but couldn't.

He looked at me and thought _'Shoot him.'_ at me.

I forgot about the paralysis and with minimum movements fired my bow, aimed at his head, he turned with a surprised look and blocked the arrow.

Had I failed?

Apparently not as Kirito right sword moved forward, turning into a black line and pierced through Kayaba.

Then both Kirito and Kayaba shattered to polygons.

Then there was a system announcement saying

 **On November 14th 3:34 the game has been cleared, all remaining players shall be logged out in 10...**

 **9...**

 **8...**

 **7...**

 **6...**

 **5...**

 **4...**

 **3...**

 **2...**

 **1...**

 **Goodbye.**

And the world went white, but instead of appearing in the real world I saw just sunset around.

I looked around and saw Kirito sitting there looking slightly down and outwards, onto a crumbling Aincrad.

I started walking towards him and noticed that there were no footsteps.

I snuck up behind, or I thought I did but the moment I came within arms reach of him he grabbed my hand and said "Hey Sinon."

"Hey Kirito, what happens now? Are you going to die?" I asked, happy to see him but worried that he would die.

"I don't know. Were the other players logged out?"

"I think so." I answered, remembering the system announcement and wondering why I was here and not logged out, though I was quite happy.

Before he could say anything we heard "Nice view, isn't it." he turned to see the owner of the voice and saw a man in a white lab coat.

"Kayaba..." muttered Kirito, so this was how Kayaba really looked.

"Oh yes, I forgot to congratulate you on clearing the game, Kirito, Sinon. Oh and don't worry, both of you will be logged out momentarily, I just wanted to congratulate you on beating the game. Also, I don't recall adding a way to neutralize paralysis on your own." he said. I was relieved to hear that Kirito would survive.

"I did." Kirito said.

"Oh?" asked Kayaba.

"The Incarnation system, basically if you wish for something hard enough it might happen. That is how several seconds passed before I shattered and how Sinon shot you despite being paralyzed. For that matter it is also how I blocked the 50th floor boss's strike." he said.

"I'm surprised I never noticed." he said.

After a few seconds of silence he said "On the 5th basement of Argus headquarters, this world is being deleted. The remaining 7512 players other then you two have already been logged out and in about 5 minutes once Cardinal finishes destroying Aincrad so will you two."

"Why did you do this?" I asked.

"At this point, I don't really remember. For the longest time, since I was 5 years old or so I dreamed of a floating castle, not bound by the rules of our world."

"By the time I was 10 or so I realized that it could never happen, but once NerveGear was near completion, I once again dreamed of it. And so I created SAO and floating castle of Aincrad, and all I needed were the people. I hope this castle still exists, somewhere in another world." he said.

Speaking to him like this it was hard to think of him as the monster he was.

"Well goodbye now, we may meet again." he said.

Then sun glowed blinding bright and everything was white, finally the light faded and when I regained vision I saw a green visor above my eyes and above that a white hospital ceiling.

I looked to the sides and saw that my skin was sickly pale and there was an IV.

I reached up to remove the NerveGear but even moving my arms was slightly difficult, I hadn't moved them in a little over a year after all.

After a few minutes a nurse walked in and the moment she did her frown turned into a smile, probably she had been unaware that I was awake and this was just some check up.

"You're awake!" she said.

"Yes I'm awake." I said.

I wonder if Kazuto is in the same hospital, we do live fairly close to each other and go to the same school.

"You should stay in bed for a bit, I'll bring you something to drink." she said and I noticed how dry my throat was, understandably so, I hadn't drank anything in a year.

A few minutes later the nurse came back with a glass of water and I sat up—with difficulty—and leaned against the wall.

I took the glass in my hands and it felt very heavy but I held it and drank slowly. The water was pleasant but also stung a little, no I'm not a masochist.

After I finished drinking I lay back down because just drinking a glass of water was enough to tire me out in my current state.

* * *

 **(Kazuto, 3:45)**

About 5 minutes after I woke up I had finished a glass of water and was laying down, though I was probably in a better state then most of the other players due to my previously very good physical state, literally doing nothing for a year made even me very weak.

"Hello Kirigaya-san, I am Kikuoka Seijirou of the Second Separated Advanced Network Division Technology Bureau Ministry of Internal Affairs." said a man in glasses right after walking in, my first thought was _'How does he remember all that?'_ my second thought was _'Why is someone from the government the first person other then the nurse to see me after I wake up.'_

"Hello Kikuoka-san, you already seem to know my name so I won't bother introducing myself." I said cautiously.

"No need to be so cautious, I just want to ask a few questions about SAO." he said.

"And if I say no?" I asked.

"Is there anything you would like in return?" he asked.

I see how this works, well I could use this to get which hospitals my friends were in and hopefully get to keep my NerveGear, which had Yui on it.

"I would like to keep my NerveGear, and also I would like to know the locations of several friends I had inside SAO, though I only have their usernames inside SAO for most of them." I said.

"That could be arranged if you answer my questions." he said.

"Okay, ask away." I said.

He asked me all sorts of questions about what happened inside SAO and if I knew the whereabouts of Kayaba, which I didn't.

His last question was "Do you believe Kayaba is responsible for the 300 people who haven't woken up yet?"

"WHAT?" I nearly yelled "300 people haven't woken up yet? And no, if that is the case then I can almost guarantee that Kayaba is not the one behind it." I added.

Then he said "Okay, you can give me the list of names and some means to contact you, I'll tell you once I get the answers you need, you can keep the NerveGear, though I doubt you'll be leaving the hospital anytime soon." he said, and as annoying as that was, it was probably true that even he would spend at least a week or two in rehab.

* * *

 **And Aincrad crumbles to dust.**

 **Real end now. Sorry I felt like putting that middle part.**

 **Anyway, please follow, favorite and tell me what you think with a review. :)**

 **Also Tetris .:. ... ..: :.. :: .:;** **;** **:.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	28. Chapter 28: Reality

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Can we get three chapters in one day?**

 **Also this story is coming to a close and a sequel will be released as another story.**

Chapter 28: Reality

* * *

 **(1st person, Kazuto, November 21st, 2:30pm)**

I could finally walk around... kinda... so I was going to go visit Shino, she was a in a nearby hospital, close enough that I should be able to walk there with only a little difficulty.

I got up from where I was sitting and walked in the direction of the exit, occasionally stopping and leaning on the wall.

Eventually I reached the exit and I said to the person at the desk, who knew me by now "I'll be back in a couple hours."

"Okay, be careful." he said.

I walked out and looked at my phone for the map.

I walked along the streets for a while, stopping to rest every now and then.

After a while I took a short cut through an alley to save over a mile of walking distance.

"Hey kid, where are your parents?" asked one of three people who walked out from the shadows.

I smiled as sadistically as I could and otherwise ignored them.

"You should listen to adults." said another one pulling out a knife.

"You probably will regret fighting me." I whispered.

"You? Seriously? You can hardly walk a hundred meters without resting." said the third.

Also pulling out his knife, the first one doing so as well.

I picked a metal pipe off the ground, thankfully it was fairly light, because no amount of skill compensates for lack of ability to use your weapon.

"You're going to regret this, a lot." I said and got in a stance.

One of them charged forward and I dodged the side, slamming the pipe into his wrist, causing him to drop the knife and grasp his wrist in pain.

"Starting to regret it yet?" I asked.

The other two were a bit more hesitant but after a few whispers both charged forward and the same time.

I jumped to the side, panting slightly, I would have to get this over with quickly before I run out of stamina.

I slammed my pipe into the one of their backs knocking him to the floor.

"You should probably run away now." I said to the third one, who dropped his knife and ran away.

"You two should probably get up and follow his example." I said to the remaining two, who got up, leaving their knives on the floor and ran away.

Once they were out of sight I dropped the pipe and leaned on the wall, taking several deep breaths.

After a minute I started walking towards the hospital Shino was staying in.

It took me half an hour to get there but it didn't feel very long because this was my first time seeing Tokyo in a year and so it was quite interesting.

I walked in and said "I'm here to visit Asada Shino." at the Visitor Desk.

"What is you name?" asked the man behind the desk.

"Kirigaya Kazuto." I said.

"Right." he said and looked something up before saying "Room 756, that's the 56th room on the 7th floor. Also you look like someone who should be in a hospital yourself."

"Thank you, and I am currently at a different hospital but I have recovered enough to leave earlier today so I'm visiting my friend." I said and walked to the elevator.

I selected the 7th floor and about 30 seconds later the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

I walked out of the elevator and onto the 7th floor.

Looking around I saw the numbers increase to the right so I went that way.

It took me a minute or so to reach the 56th room and on the door it said "Asada Shino".

I knocked on the door and heard her say "Who's there?"

"Me." I said.

"Ki- sorry Kazuto! Come in please!" she said.

I opened the door and walked in to see her sitting on her bed.

"Hey Shino." I said.

"You're surprisingly lively, out for a week and already walking around without crutches or anything." she said.

"I was in very good form before SAO." I said and walked over to her.

I hugged her and she hugged me back.

"I missed you, even if we haven't seen each other in only a week, maybe it's the difference in worlds or something, or maybe the boring rehab." she whispered to me.

Then she kissed me. I kissed me back and then said "I miss you too."

After he stopped hugging I asked "Did a government agent come ask you questions about SAO after you woke up?"

"No. From that question I take it that that happened to you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I was wondering if it was me or everyone." I answered.

"It was overall a good thing I guess because he gave me your address and let me keep my NerveGear. He also told me something which is common knowledge but you might not know because you've been stuck in a hospital. 300 people have yet to wake up, and among them is Asuna." I added.

Her reaction was basically the same as mine, as she said "WHAT?"

"That was pretty much my reaction, do you think it has anything to do with Kayaba?" I said.

"No, doesn't seem like him, what about you?" she said.

"Me neither, which means whoever else had access to those servers is responsible, the security is stupidly good so it wasn't a hacker, so it must be whoever was taking care of the servers after Argus inevitably went bankrupt. That would be RECTO, specifically RECTO Progress." I said.

After a bit of looking on my phone I found that the person in charge of RECTO Progress was a man named Sugou Nobuyuki, he seemed to be a friend of the Yuuki family—Asuna's family—and Asuna's father seemed to be the CEO of RECTO.

So if Asuna didn't like him then it was likely that he was responsible.

"It seems quite possible that the person in charge of RECTO Progress, Sugou Nobuyuki, is responsible, and also that the CEO of RECTO is unaware because he is Asuna's father." I said.

"Okay, now we just need to see if your theory is correct... the hard part..." Sinon said.

"Once you can walk with crutches at least we can go visit Asuna, until then I'll try to visit you daily so you don't get lonely." I said.

* * *

 **(Sinon, November 28th, 1:03pm)**

The doctor finally said I can leave the hospital, but that I should use crutches and well, the last two weeks had been boring as hell, if not for Kirito visiting daily I might have gone crazy from boredom, I almost missed SAO.

I decided I should probably meet Kirito in the lobby to surprise him so I was waiting there, Kirito usually came to visit a few minutes after the current time.

And as expected Kirito showed up at the right time and was about to walk to the visitor desk when he saw me and ran over. In the week it had taken me to be able to walk with crutches from when he first visited me, he was basically able to run around normally, albeit with somewhat lower stamina then average.

"Hey Shino, so you are finally allowed to walk?" he asked.

"Yep!" I said with a smile and picked up my crutches.

"Let's go see Tokyo, I haven't seen anything that isn't medieval other then this hospital in a year." I said.

Kirito helped me up and said "Sure."

We walked out of the hospital and I looked around in awe at the sky scrapers.

"I'll remember to never take this for granted again." I said.

"Yeah, same. I have an idea, let's go to the park." Kazuto said.

"That sounds nice, what's the nicest park you know?" I asked.

"Just follow me." he said and started walking slowly so I could keep up.

At one point I asked him to carry me but he said that there were a bunch of people around and if he just carries me around I won't get any stronger so we took a break instead. Meaning we stopped and I leaned a wall.

After a minute or two we kept walking until we reached nice park and Kirito said "This place was completely isolated, with private networks and stuff, before, there was also a barbed wire fence and no one was allowed to enter, it is kinda cool. But right now it is just a nice park."

It seemed cool, in the modern world a completely isolated place was interesting and seemed like it would be difficult to make.

There was a bench there and we walked over and sat down under the trees.

"This is pleasant, being able to sit here and not having the threat of death looming over us. Just sit here and take in the beauty." I said.

"There is also more information here then in the virtual world." Kirito said.

I scooted a bit closer to him and leaned my head on his shoulder.

He smiled and asked "Sleepy already?" teasingly.

"Nope, just want to lean on your shoulder." I said, though it was somewhat a lie, for whatever reason I did feel kinda sleepy, though only after I leaned my head on his shoulder.

I closed my eyes and felt him gently stroke my cheek.

"You know it's okay to sleep right? Nothing is trying to kill us here." he said.

And with that I fell asleep.

By the time I opened my eyes the sun was starting to set and Kirito had also dozed off, as when I lifted my head of his shoulder he moved with a sudden jerk.

He opened his eyes and said "Hey Sinon, I think we stayed out a little late. Do you want to head over to my house? I doubt you still have your apartment after a year of not paying rent."

I hadn't thought about it, but at the moment I didn't really have a house.

"Sure, maybe I'll just stay at your house for a bit if you have a guest room." I said.

Though I wouldn't mind staying in the same room as him, as we had been staying in the same room for a year, but the amount of teasing we would get from his sister, and possibly mother depending on what type of person she was.

"I wouldn't mind, and my 'mom' would probably just be glad I made friends with someone." he answered.

"Okay, well let's head there, is it nearby?" I asked.

"Yeah, it will probably be around 20-30 minutes to get there at our pace." he said.

Obviously that was pretty close because we moved at a very slow pace, this being my first time using crutches and also because I was still generally weak.

"Has your sister recovered yet?" I asked, though she probably had, being naturally energetic and athletic.

"Yeah, she recovered enough to walk without crutches only a day or two after I did." he said.

"Aww, and I was hoping to recover before her, but I guess she is an athlete and far more energetic then I am." I said.

Half an hour later we arrived at his house, one of the upstairs windows had a light on so his sister was probably home.

Kirito walked up to the door and opened it, then yelled "Sugu, I'm back."

I heard footsteps and then saw 'Leafa' come down the stairs.

"Took you long enough, why were you out that long?" she asked.

"We kinda fell asleep on a bench in a park." he said awkwardly, gesturing to me as he said 'we'.

"Oh hey Sinon! I hardly remembered how you looked without blue hair." she said, cheerful as ever.

"Hey... um... what should I call you?" I asked.

"Just call me Sugu or Suguha, don't call me 'Kirigaya' please because that would get confusing with oniisan and mom around. If you really want to you can call me Leafa." she answered, I decided that I would just call her Sugu because it was short and she said it was okay.

"Okay, hey Sugu-san." I said, somewhat awkwardly.

"Don't use honorifics please? Well don't just stand there you two, come in and close the door before it gets cold." she said.

"Then you don't use them either." I said.

"Hey Sugu, she'll be staying in the guest room for now because she lived alone before SAO, so she doesn't really have anywhere to stay right now." Kirito said.

"Okay, but then she has to cook food every third day." Sugu said. Right, Kazuto and Sugu alternate cooking food in this house, so if I'm staying here it would make sense for me to join the rotation.

"Okay." I said.

"We can go get your stuff from the hospital tomorrow. Sorry that the guest room is upstairs so it might be a bit of a pain to get up there with crutches." Kirito said.

"All the rooms are upstairs aren't they?" I asked.

"Everything except the kitchen, dining room, living room, and a bathroom." he said.

"Oh, okay." I said.

"So who is cooking dinner today?" asked Sugu.

"I guess I can, though I'm not great." I said.

"Okay, then next will be me because onii-san cooked yesterday. And your cooking can't be that bad if you lived alone." Sugu said.

I walked into their kitchen and looked around, it was a fairly standard kitchen.

Kirito walked in behind me and said "I don't know what we have right now so you should probably just search the fridge and see if there is anything you want to cook."

"Okay..." I said awkwardly and walked to the fridge.

I opened it and saw quite a few random things.

I scanned it with my eyes and saw some salmon, and decided to make that.

"Do you have rice?" I asked, knowing that the answer was almost certainly yes.

"Yeah." he said and walked over to a cupboard, pulling out a rather large bag of rice.

After some half hour of cooking the salmon and rice were done and I called Kirito and Sugu.

"Umm... where are the dishes?" I asked awkwardly.

Sugu chuckled a bit and Kirito walked over to one of the cupboards and pulled out 4 plates.

"Mom says she's coming home early today." he said to Sugu, apparently their mom usually doesn't eat dinner with them.

"Perfect, we can introduce her to Sinononon." said Sugu.

"That's not my name." I growled, annoyed by that nickname, if she had called me Sinon it would have been fine but that was annoying.

"Sorry, Shino." said Sugu.

While I was setting the table there was a knock on the door and someone said "I'm home early today."

I heard Kazuto run down the stairs and open the door, so I hurried with setting the table.

"Hi." he said.

"Hi." said presumably his 'mom', who was his aunt, though Sugu didn't know yet.

After a moment she walked in and said "Do I smell salmon?"

"Yeah." Kazuto said.

"Who made it?" she asked.

"A friend of mine." he answered.

"Okay..." she said.

I decided to reveal myself by calling Sugu to eat.

After a moment Kazuto, Sugu, and their mom showed up.

"Shino, you clearly underrate your cooking, this is definitely better then anything onii-san or I can make." Sugu said.

"Is she your friend?" their mom asked.

"Yes." Kirito said.

"Hello." I said awkwardly.

"I'm Kirigaya Midori, just call me Midori or it will get confusing." she said.

"I'm Asada Shino, call me whatever. Kazuto and Sugu said it would be okay if I stay in the guest room, after SAO I don't have an apartment." I said awkwardly.

"I don't see a problem with that." she said.

"Thank you." I said.

We sat down at the table and I realized this was the first 'family dinner' I had really ever had—even if it wasn't my family—because my father died when I was very little, and no matter how you count it my first one in a few years.

We ate dinner while chatting and Midori asked me and Kazuto "How did you two meet? Was it in there?"

"We met at school actually." Kirito said and gave me a look that said 'you can say the rest if you want'.

I didn't say anything because it would be kinda awkward to explain so Midori said "See, school has purpose, you can make friends."

"A friend." Kazuto corrected, they had probably had arguments about him going to school before.

After dinner Kazuto showed me to my room, and helped me up the stairs.

"We can get your stuff tomorrow, you can borrow some of Sugu's sleep clothes for today. I'll be going to bed now, see you tomorrow." Kazuto said and gave me a parting hug.

I went to Sugu's room and knocked, she opened the door very quickly and said "Hey, what you need?"

I said "I was wondering if I could borrow some sleep clothes, my stuff is all at the hospital..." still feeling awkward asking to borrow someone else's clothes, or about staying someone else's house for that matter.

Sugu didn't hesitate at all to say "Sure, I got plenty, you can pick anyone of them." and practically pulled me into her room.

"Careful, I haven't recovered yet." I said.

"Sorry, sorry." she said.

She brought me to her closet and while I was about to open it she whispered to me "Have you and onii-san kissed yet?"

I tried Kazuto's 'be blunt' approach he had used when Asuna asked the same question and said "Yes." and continued to the closet.

I picked the ones she had from a little while back because despite being my age approximately she was a little taller then me.

I thanked her and went back to my room and put the clothes on and went to bed.

* * *

 **Wow! 8k words in one day. That's a new record even for my crappy writing.**

 **I plan to make a few real world chapters before the ALO arc, which will be in a new story.**

 **Why you ask? The first is cause I want to and the second is cause I want more views for bragging rights.**

 **Which are you more likely to do? Read a 300k words fanfic or read a 100k one, and its 100k sequel, and the 100k sequel of that.**

 **For me it is the later so I'm splitting it up, also because it is more convenient for me and the reader that way.**

 **Please follow, favorite and tell me what you thought!**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	29. Chapter 29: Survivor School Part 1

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **There will be one or two more chapters of this arc after this and then I will start writing the sequel as a separate story.**

 **Also note specifically to Gadget Boy, please make an account and don't post as guest, I want to reply to a lot of your reviews but because you post as a guest there isn't really a good way to do it.**

Chapter 29: Survivor School Part 1

* * *

 **(1st person, Sinon, November 29th, 11:03am)**

Kazuto and I were on the way to the hospital to pick up my stuff on his... motorcycle? Since when does he have a motorcycle?

It was exciting and somewhat scary, but that's to be expected when you're moving 50km per hour on something that is basically a bike, I wonder how long it took for him to get used to it.

We arrived at the hospital in about 10 minutes, which was a lot faster then walking.

When we walked into the hospital I told the guy at the visitor desk that I was here to pick up my stuff and we went to my room, which was one of the 'rehab' rooms which were basically crappy hotel rooms as they were for rehab patients and not for people who had any sort of medical condition that could cause them to require immediate medical help. For example in my case I wasn't sick with anything, I was just still weak after not moving for a year, so I didn't need any sort of medicine or anything like that.

Once we walked in Kirito said "You don't have much stuff."

"I have what I needed and not really anything else, just some clothes and electronics." I answered.

We quickly packed all the stuff up and it fit into one shoulder bag as it was just some clothes and a computer.

"You should probably hold it instead of me on the drive back." Kazuto said, which makes sense because he is the one driving.

The drive back was—thankfully—uneventful, as drives are supposed to be, also I had had enough eventful things for a lifetime in the past year.

We arrived back at Kazuto's house in 10 minutes and Kazuto helped me carry the stuff up to my room, you know the whole 'unable to walk without crutches' thing.

After we got my stuff to the guest room I asked Kazuto "Do you know what will happen with the SAO survivors education? Sugu and I and everybody else who was school is behind a year, that's not a problem for you because you were like 4 years ahead, probably more, but for most people that could be a problem."

"Hmm... I guess they'll probably make some sort of school for the SAO survivors, given how much they have already done, including pay the medical bills of probably tens or hundreds of thousands per person." Kazuto said.

Just as he said that I received an email, and apparently so did he as we both took out our phones at the exact same time.

I read the email, which was from the Japan government and it said that there was a school set up for SAO survivors to attend if they want, which would allow them to catch up and take college entrance exams with a year else education if people wanted, in other words, exactly what Kazuto just said.

"You either can see the future or that government agent you mentioned already told you." I said.

"Neither. I just guessed." he said.

"The school starts on the first of December instead of the beginning of the next term, so that's the day after tomorrow, the address is quite near here too." I said.

"Yeah, well I guess you're probably going right?" he asked.

"Unlike you, I need to learn this stuff, so yes." I said.

"Okay, I'll go too and keep you company, also it will be a convenient way to meet with the rest of our friends outside of Egil's cafe." he answered.

"Awesome!" I said excitedly and resisted the urge to randomly hug him.

"Let's go visit Asuna in the hospital?" I asked, it was something we should do, as her friends it wouldn't be right not to.

"Yeah, let's go. I just hope where ever she is, and all the other 300 people still trapped, nothing bad is happening to them." said Kirito solemnly.

I nodded.

We drove to the hospital that Asuna was at—which Kirito also knew from the government agent, who was surprisingly cooperative—which took about half an hour.

We walked in and went through all the bureaucracy of visiting someone, blah blah blah, and finally once it was all over got Asuna's room number, which was on the 6th floor of the building.

We walked along the hall of the fancy hospital—the fact that it was fancy wasn't surprising given how rich Asuna's family was—until we reached the room that had a plaque that read "Yuuki Asuna" and opened the door with the visitor card we were given, this hospital having much better security then the ones Kazuto or I were at.

We looked into the room and saw two people already there, both of them I recognized from what Kazuto showed me with his theory about the cause of the 300 people remaining asleep.

One of the them was Asuna's father, Yuuki Shouzou and the other was the supposed culprit, Sugou Nobuyuki.

When the door opened they turned to look at us and Shouzou asked "Who are you?"

"Kirigaya Kazuto and Asada Shino, we were friends of your daughter's inside SAO." Kirito answered politely.

"I see..." said Shouzou.

"Ah, you're the ones who 'cleared' that game, right? And that programming prodigy second only to Kayaba. If you want there is also room for skilled people in RECTO Progress." said Nobuyuki.

I don't think the he suspects that we suspect him... That was a confusing thought.

"I'll think about it." Kazuto said, only to be polite as he had no intention for working for the man, at least until we had no more suspicions about him.

There was silence afterwards, which was somewhat creepy in this situation, though nothing could really happen.

Eventually Shouzou broke the silence saying "Thank you for coming to visit my daughter, it is good to know that something good came out of that death trap for her."

So Asuna didn't have many friends in real world, I guess 'rich kids' are generally disliked but still... in SAO she was friends with everybody and looked up to by everybody else (I know that didn't make any sense).

We just stood there for a while and eventually Shouzou had to leave, leaving us in the same room as Nobuyuki and an unconscious Asuna.

Then Nobuyuki said "If Asuna had a lover inside SAO, make sure to tell them they stop by here exactly a month from now to see our marriage."

"Asuna never liked me, but her parents don't know that, so it awfully convenient that she isn't awake for this." he added.

Yep, definitely the culprit, and who tells somebody that? What if we were recording and showed it to Asuna's father?

Kazuto said "Is that even legally possible?" reigning in his anger and probably urge to beat this filth to a pulp, which I also had but if I tried would probably fail.

"Technically no, legally speaking I will simply be adopted into the Yuuki family." he said.

"You know you're the definition of scum, right?" I asked, my voice burning with cold anger.

"After Argus went bankrupt RECTO Progress took over care for the servers, which means that I'm the one keeping her alive, is it so wrong to expect something in return?" he said.

100% the culprit, and by the look on Kirito's face he was thinking the same thing.

We left the hospital with a mixture of emotions, mostly hatred for that scum, and a slight bit of happiness that we figured out who is responsible, now we just needed to prove it.

* * *

 **(December 1st, 7:30am)**

School again, which means back to waking up early again.

My alarm clock rang at 7:30 and not 7:45 as it would normally because today was my turn to make breakfast so I needed to wake up a bit earlier.

I got up reluctantly and changed into normal clothes, not having a uniform at the moment, and went downstairs to make breakfast.

I made a simple and quick breakfast because, well we didn't have much time, and called Sugu and Kazuto to eat.

We ate breakfast quickly and all head off to school together.

We were all going to the same 'SAO Survivor School' together so we went there together.

Hopefully at this school people wouldn't hate me, at least not for the reasons they hated me in other schools, the reason—hopefully—only Kazuto knew, though he didn't know what really happened, and I felt like I owed him to tell him after all he has done for me, but I couldn't get the courage to do it, whenever I was about to do it I was overcome with the fear of _'What if he hates me?'_ so I hadn't done it yet.

Maybe I'll manage soon and maybe I won't.

We arrived at the we arrived in our class room, at this point splitting up with the Sugu because she was younger and thus going to a different class.

There were several classes for each age group as there were nearly a thousand students at this improv school, so the classes for each age were sorted by people's grade history, which meant that basically the classes were determined by GPA and chance.

Kazuto and I both had high enough GPAs to fall in the highest group and got lucky enough on the chance part so we were in the same class, and we were here rather early so we would get first pick at desks.

We found our classroom and picked a couple desks where we wouldn't attract any attention. Mostly Kazuto, who looked almost exactly like he did in SAO—unlike me because I had dyed my hair—so we would probably get a lot of attention if someone from say, the clearing group, was here, though there were few teenagers in the clearing group and it was mostly adults.

The door to the class room was near the front and on the right so we picked the back-left most desks and hoped not to attract attention.

After a few minutes people arrived and—thankfully—didn't notice who we were, or at least didn't bother us.

A few minutes after that the homeroom 'teacher' arrived and discussed the schedule and told us that the uniforms would be given out at the end of the day and that we were expected to wear them tomorrow.

The first real class was the math class, which would probably be pretty easy even if it was continuing from where we were before SAO, but we most likely were going to jump back a bit making it even easier.

Kazuto did the thing he normally did in class, that is, he took a nap.

Because we were sitting in the back or maybe because of his perfect grades and other academic achievements the teacher didn't call him up so he literally slept through the whole class, maybe he went to bed late or something, and I guess we did wake up earlier then we had been waking up for the past year.

The rest of the classes all went by and were fairly easy because they had jumped back for people with worse memory but I still remembered all of this just fine, Kazuto had stayed half-asleep the whole time and when the lunch bell finely rang he lifted his head of his arms and quietly yawned, covering his mouth.

Some of the students probably wondered how he was in the highest grades class.

We got up and walked outside, we weren't very hungry so our current plan was to look for any of our other friends and eat with them if we found them, otherwise we might eat a bit, but we were used to not eating for a while at a time from SAO, though doing that to much in the real world wouldn't be healthy.

Dieting is something none of the SAO survivors need right now, all of them having lost most of their fat and extra muscle.

After a while of wandering around we ran into Lisbeth and Silica, whose real names Kazuto either hadn't told me or I had forgotten.

"Hey Kirito! Sinon!" they called to us, also noticing us.

We walked over and Kazuto said "Please don't yell that, we don't want to get attention, we had enough of it for the past year."

"Sorry, sorry, then what are your real names? My real name is Rika and her's is Keiko." Lisbeth, now known as Rika said.

"I'm Kazuto and she's Shino." Kazuto said.

"Okay, you know someone is going to mishear Shino for Sinon at some point anyway." Rika said.

"Not if you don't yell our names out." I said coldly.

""Sorry."" said Keiko and Rika at the same time.

"Have you seen Sugu or Horum around?" I asked.

""Sugu?"" they asked at the same time.

"And Asuna teases us for speaking in sync." muttered Kazuto.

"It is the nickname Kazuto calls Leafa in real life, her real name being Suguha." I explained.

"Oh. No we haven't." Rika said.

"Let's go look for them then." I said.

"What about food?" asked Keiko.

"Food can wait." I said.

* * *

 **Sorry for the cliffhanger, but it is ridiculously late and I want to put something up, tell me in a review if you would prefer if in this kind of situation I would finish the chapter in the morning and upload it later or upload it now and upload a part 2 in the morning?**

 **Please follow, favorite, tell your friends and tell me what you think in a review. :)**

 **Anyway, cya me sslleeeeppyy!**

 **No? Doesn't work twice? Okay sorry, I'll go hide now...**

 **Let's get it right this time.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	30. Chapter 30: Survivor School Part 2

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **Sorry that I cut the last chapter short but it was getting really late and I wanted to go to bed.**

 **Also I intended to make a bonus chapter today but got carried away doing other things, so, sorry...**

Chapter 30: Survivor School Part 2

* * *

 **(1st person, Shino, December 1st, 11:41am)**

Where did Sugu vanish to, and where was Horum or whatever his real name is?

"Hey Sugu!" Kazuto yelled.

"Hey!" I heard her yell and saw her running towards us, with Horum behind her.

"Oh, good you found Horum." I said.

"His real name is Horoku." Sugu said.

"Okay, well I'm Shino, Kirito is Kazuto, Lisbeth is Rika, and Silica here is Keiko." I said.

"Hi." he said awkwardly.

"You don't have to be so awkward, other then me and Shino and me and Sugu none of us knew each other before SAO either." Kazuto said.

"So, is getting back to school stuff hard after not doing for a year for any of you?" asked Keiko, the youngest of us.

""Nope."" said Kazuto and I at the same time and everyone glared at us.

"Do you two have trouble doing **anything**?" asked Rika.

"We are having some trouble figuring out why the 300 people still trapped are trapped and how to get them out." I said.

"That isn't even something that you are supposed to be doing... That's the governments job." Rika said.

"As far as we're concerned, our goal was to get **everyone** out of SAO, just because it is already cleared doesn't mean that we don't need to get the remaining people out." Kazuto said.

"Okay fine, back to the original question and away from discussing the fact that Kazuto and Shino probably aren't human. My answer to that question is yes." Rika said.

""Us too."" said Sugu and Horoku.

Kazuto and I looked at each other awkwardly.

"Are we really the only ones who don't have trouble with school?" I asked.

"Probably. Would it kill you to pretend you're not better then us at everything?" Rika said.

"Having friends is hard..." I said quietly.

"I agree, that's probably why you're my first friend." Kazuto answered.

"What are you two talking about?" asked Rika teasingly and started nudging closer to us.

I sent her glare and she backed away.

"Nothing that concerns you." I said coldly.

"Brutal." she said, feigning being hurt.

"If you guys are hungry you should probably eat because we only have a few more minutes of lunch period." I said, hoping to switch topics.

The expression on Rika's face was priceless.

Speaking of priceless expressions, Endou might be at this school because she was in SAO... Let's hope I don't run into her.

We ate some lunch and went back to our classes, which were once again rather boring due to covering stuff we had covered a few months before SAO.

While we were walking back to the exit of the school closest to Kazuto's house we heard some people say "Even if Kirito and Sinon won't show themselves they are probably at this school so let's throw them a party."

"Sounds like a good idea, when should we have it?"

"In a few days, it should be grand so we'll need a few days to prepare, say one week from now?" said the first.

"Sounds good." said the second the others in the group nodded.

Once they stopped talking we moved on and once we were out of earshot Kazuto said "I thought people hated us..."

"Well maybe their opinions of us changed after we freed them from SAO." I said sarcastically.

"Their opinions of us didn't change when we saved their lives inside SAO." pointed out Kazuto.

"Well... um... yeah okay you win that one." I said.

"So, are we going home or...?" Kazuto asked.

"Let's go home, or at least meet up with Sugu before deciding what to do." I said.

With that we walked to the gate.

After a few minutes Sugu arrived with Horoku and he asked me "Do you live really close to them?"

"She lived alone before SAO, so she doesn't have the apartment she had before any more so she is staying at our house for now." Sugu explained.

"Ohh..." he said.

"Where do you live?" I asked.

"I actually live somewhere in this direction too, so my route should start the same so I'll come with you guys." he said.

"Okay, and it's back to the 4 of us, though this time we aren't risking our lives. Speaking of which, we didn't really meet you guys all that much during SAO, how were things for you two?" I asked.

"Well for a while we tried to keep up with you two, but after about a week realized that it was impossible." he said.

"After that we started to try to find good gear so we could be helpful so we searched various floors for hidden dungeons, like the kind you two randomly stumble into all the time." he said.

"It was only two or three times." I said.

"That's two or three more times then it happened to us." Sugu said.

We walked along the sidewalk and Horoku and Sugu told us what happened to them after we split up in SAO.

They mostly tried to get stronger and be helpful at the front lines, at some point Horoku had switched to heavy armor because you can really dodge with a gigantic great sword anyway.

They were there at most of the boss fights but a few, as they put it 'every other human also missed a few, we missed relatively few, you two don't count as human.'

It was true that they had been to probably the most boss fights other then Asuna and of course us, even Kayaba only showed up after a few floors and missed some of the earlier fights, and most people only showed up to every other or every third fight, some only showing up once or twice.

This is of course only considering the people who had showed up at any of the boss fights, most of the people having not been to a single one.

At around floor 60 the Black Cats had caught up to the front lines and showed up to a few of the boss fights from there, though thankfully not at the 75th one because they were still some of the weakest players on the front lines and would likely have died.

The Black Cats were probably also at this school, as they were also school age.

We reached an intersection and Horoku said "Well, this is where we go our separate ways, I made that sound way to dramatic, see you tomorrow!"

"Hey Shino, want to go back to that park we were at a few days ago?" asked Kazuto in a whisper.

"Sure." I whispered back.

"Hey Sugu, you head home, we'll be back later." Kazuto said.

"Okay, where are you to going?" she answered.

"To the park." I said.

"To take a nap on a bench?" asked Sugu.

"Probably. Maybe on the grass." I said.

"Is all you two do in the real world sleep?" she asked.

"We also do our school homework, and some other stuff." Kazuto said.

"Oh whatever, none of my business anyway." Sugu said and started walking in the direction of her house.

"So, let's go to the park?" I asked.

"Sure." Kazuto said.

We started walking in the direction of the park, which was about half and hour from here, at least at the speed I was walking at. If I got in a fight in my current state, even with my now decent knowledge of how to fight practically anyone could beat me.

During the half hour we talked about what we should do once we get remaining players awake, though all we could come up with is was to relax and not do anything this stressful for, I dunno, our whole lives.

We arrived at the park and lay down on the lawn next to each other.

There weren't really any other people around, and even if there were, who cares what they think.

Other then us there were a few kids running around and their moms chatting nearby.

I grabbed Kazuto's hand a closed my eyes, feeling the cool grass and relaxing.

I also found that sitting and laying down were very pleasant when you hardly had enough strength to walk, who would have guessed?

Sometimes I wish that this could go on forever, and by sometimes I mean always, we're always fighting something.

I scooted over so I was nearly touching Kazuto's shoulder with my own and closed my eyes again.

"You alright?" asked Kazuto.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking." I said.

I opened my eyes and looked at the trees above us.

I'm pretty sure I saw some of the parents send us some smiles, but I'm probably seeing things.

I closed my eyes because the sun was shining on my face and immediately felt consciousness slip away.

* * *

 **(Kazuto, 3:58pm)**

Shino looks so peaceful when she's asleep.

I looked over at Shino, who had fallen asleep a moment ago.

Either she didn't get enough sleep—which was likely true because she woke up several hours earlier then she had been for the past year—or this was just too comfortable not to fall asleep.

I occasionally saw some of the group of parents look over in our direction, though whatever they were thinking, I didn't really care.

I heard one of the children say "Let's go say hi to them."

"Okay, but let's be quiet, I think they might be sleeping." said another, you wish, you wouldn't be able to sneak up on me even if I was asleep.

I heard their—incredibly loud for running on grass—footsteps come closer rapidly and then stop when one of the parents told them to not bother people.

Some adults were understanding.

Still, talking to a bunch of ten-year-olds is probably a lot less stressful then say fighting giant blue furry demons.

Some high-schoolers walked by on the sidewalk at one point.

I closed my eyes and created a map of the surrounding sources of sound combined with what I remembered everything static around me to look like as a fun exercise, I like doing sometimes because it is interesting to have a whole different way of observing what goes on around you, and also it can be practically useful because it makes it easy to sense someone coming from any side, not just in front.

There were cars driving on the nearby streets, people walking on the sidewalks, children running on the grass, parents talking while they watched their children, and many other things.

There was also Shino breathing evenly laying down next to me, almost certainly asleep, speaking of which, it was probably time to wake her up.

I squeezed Shino's hand slightly and she stirred, waking up easily because during SAO we sometimes slept outside safe zones so we trained ourselves to wake up with relative ease, something that is more of a bad thing in the real world.

She groaned slightly and pulled her hand out of my grip to rub her eyes.

"Sleep well?" I asked.

"Yeah, thanks for letting me sleep some, how long was I asleep?" she answered.

I glanced at my watch which read 5:03pm "About an hour, I think I dozed off a bit myself because it didn't feel that long." I said.

"We should probably head back then, I guess." she said somewhat sadly.

"Yeah, I guess so." I said and stood up, helping her up afterwards.

I brushed some grass blades of my clothes and we walked back towards the house, arriving in about half an hour.

"Hey Sugu, we're back!" I called once we entered the house.

"What did you do this time?" she asked.

"We just lay on the grass basically." I said.

"Lame. You guys are so lazy." she said.

"Well maybe, just maybe of course, we're just taking a break from fighting an average of like 9 hours a day for a year in SAO." I said sarcastically.

"Well that was your choice." she said.

"And now **this** is our choice, what should we be doing anyway? We both get perfectly fine grades." Shino said.

"Ahh... Okay fine." Sugu said, admitting defeat.

"So it's my turn to cook dinner today right?" asked Shino.

"I think so..." I said unsurely.

"Okay, well then what do you two want for dinner?" she asked.

"Anything fish." I said.

"That's not very specific." she answered.

"It's not like we have more then one or two types of fish anyway." I argued.

"So you're telling me to come up with something, preferably with fish?" she asked.

"Just make anything, you're better then either of us at cooking anyway." I said.

"Fine." she said.

* * *

 **(Shino, 5:54pm)**

Annnnnd... done!

Rice... check.

Soup... check.

Fish... check.

"Dinner's ready." I called.

A few seconds later Kazuto and Sugu came down the stairs.

We all sat down and said """Itadakimasu!""" and began eating.

"Thanks, it's great." Kazuto said.

"It's not that good." I answered.

We ate dinner rather quickly and went up to our rooms to do whatever it is we do.

At around 9 I thought.

Now's as good a time as any to tell Kazuto about _then._

He deserves to know after all he's done for me.

I mustered up my courage and dispelled the _'what if he hates me'_ thoughts.

I went over to Kazuto's room and knocked.

"Come in." I heard him say and opened the door, I saw him on his computer, doing something I didn't see.

I walked in and closed the door.

I took a deep breath and said "You deserve to know what happened _then_ after all you've done for me."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, and if you do, I promise I would never hate you." he said.

I breathed in and out deeply a few times and then said "When I was 11 my mom and I were at a post office for dropping off some letter or something, I don't remember what, I sat on the bench in the room and read my book while my mom stood in line."

"Just as it reached my mom's turn a crazy looking man who smelled funny with a bag walked in. He threw my mom on the floor and slammed the bag on the table and opened it, then he pulled out a g-gun, he started waving it around telling the employees to put the money in the bag and not to call the police." at this point I started feeling nauseous and light-headed and I felt Kazuto wrap his arms around me.

"They were being slow so h-he s-shot one of them." I was probably crying by now but I needed to tell him.

"After that he yelled some more and pointed the g-gun at my mom and said he would s-shoot her next if they didn't hurry." I was sobbing into his shoulder and he was hugging me tight, though I was only aware of this from an objective sort of perspective, my vision was slightly gray and there was red on my hands.

"I ran forward and bit his hand causing him to drop the g-gun and grabbed it. He screamed something and threw me into a wall, then he charged at me screaming 'Give me back my g-gun!'"

"He tried to grab the gun from my hands and at some point I pressed the trigger, he got shot in the leg but he kept coming at me, I fired again on accident not even really knowing how a gun worked then." at this point I was practically detached from reality, but I had to finish.

"The bullet hit him in the stomach but he came at me again and in a panic a pressed the trigger a third time, the bullet hit him in the center of the forehead and blood flowed everywhere, and I was sitting in a pool of blood, against a wall, with a bloody gun in my hands. Even my mom looked at me with fear in her eyes."

"Somehow after that I wasn't arrested, perhaps due to what someone there said and there was questioning and I don't really remember what happened."

"After that everyone in school asked me things like 'Did you kill anyone today?' and eventually I couldn't take it and tried to run away, to Tokyo, go to a new school, and hopefully no one would find out about my past. At first Endou pretended to be my friend, but she really just wanted to use my apartment and so when she invited some mysterious men over I called the police."

"Afterwards she somehow found out about my past and spread if through the school, of course it spread faster then wildfire. After that no one wanted to be near me not speaking of talk to me and Endou would try to get me to give her money or whatever she needed, and if I didn't she would just take it. Well, until you stopped her once that is." I finished.

Kazuto hugged me tight and said "Why would I hate you? You were protecting your mother and all the other people there. Also during the raid on Laughing Coffin, I ended up killing two of the members of Laughing Coffin. I don't know if anyone noticed but there was certainly no one who cared, so after a little while of nightmares and such I somehow forgot until now."

I just hugged him back and sat on his lap, crying into his shoulder.

"Goodnight Shino." he said.

"Goodnight Kazuto." I said, then not realizing that I was currently in his room, I closed my eyes and was lost to the world...

* * *

Blood, blood everywhere, screams, the smell of sulfur in the air.

I was sitting in a pool of blood, the man shot thrice stood up grabbed the gun out of my hands despite my resistance.

Then he shot each and every one of the people in the room, finally he pointed the gun at me and pulled the trigger.

* * *

I shot up with a near silent scream and processed everything, I was here, where was here? My room? No this wasn't my room, that means Kazuto's room, where is Kazuto?

Aslee- awake on the opposite side of the bed.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Nightmares." I answered quietly and grabbed his hand.

I pulled him towards me, or maybe myself towards him and he made a surprised noise.

"Can I sleep next to you tonight?" I asked, not caring about how awkward that would sound under normal circumstances.

Kazuto nodded and I hugged him, closing my eyes.

I felt him wrap his arms around me and I fell asleep again... a dreamless, deep sleep.

* * *

 **One Hundred Thousand words, that's over 200 single spaced pages or 400 double spaced pages! It's 100,000 words, it is, well a lot more then I expected this story to be. And that was in just a month!**

 **How was this chapter? Good? Decent? Should be banished into oblivion?**

 **Please follow, favorite, and tell me what you think with a review.**

 **There will be one more chapter of this story and then I will move on to writing the sequel, the final chapter will be rather short likely and if it is I may upload the first chapter of the second story the same day.**

 **Please give me suggestions for the name of the second arc because I can't think of anything good.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


	31. Chapter 31: Important Announcement

SAO: The Rangers Black and Blue

 **This is the final chapter, I will be posting the first chapter of ALO either later today or tomorrow. The story is called ALO: The Rangers and I put in a placeholder chapter so you don't have to follow me as a writer or check back constantly if you don't want to and just follow the story.**

Chapter 31: You Gotta See This

* * *

Please go back and read the authors notes for those of you who haven't it is important.

* * *

 **(1st person, Shino, January 21st, 10:04am)**

Today was a Sunday so I was trying to sleep longer, but no, my phone had to wake me up, what's so important it can't wait.

I grabbed my phone and saw there was an email with the subject "YOU GOTTA SEE THIS".

This better be good.

I tapped on it and saw that the body simply read "Come by my cafe today." and there was an attachment.

I opened the attachment and saw an image that caused me to freeze, what is the image you ask? Someone the looks like Asuna in a golden birdcage.

The sender was Egil, or Andrew Gilbert Mills, a shop owner in SAO and the real world.

I got up and dressed then went out and knocked on Kazuto's door.

"Who's there?" he asked.

"Me, did you get an email from Egil earlier?" I asked.

"Yeah, let's go meet him and ask him about it, depending on where this is we might have a clue as to how to wake these people up." he said.

The door opened and he walked out.

"Good thing today is a Sunday so we don't have to skip school for this." I said.

"I don't really care about school, and anyway, let's get going." he said.

I nodded and we walked out and got on his motorcycle.

It took us a few minutes to get there and we ran into the cafe.

"Where was the image you sent taken?" I asked immediately.

"Sit down, I'll explain everything." he said and Kazuto and I reluctantly sat down.

"Okay explain." I said demandingly, he didn't deserve it, he was just helping but I was to busy thinking about other things to realize I shouldn't be talking to him like that.

"The picture I sent you was taken inside a new VRMMORPG that was created about 6 months after SAO started. The picture was taken by a group of fairies that nearly made it to the top of the world tree, which is the ultimate goal in the game, like how getting to the top of Aincrad would be the ultimate goal if it was just a game."

"You don't have enough flight time to make it all the way up but a group of fairies made up nearly to the lowest branches by piggy backing on each other and launching themselves like a multi-stage rocket, though they didn't make it to the top, they managed to snap a picture of something they saw in the branches, a golden birdcage with a person in it. That person, though it is very low resolution, is almost certainly Asuna in some form or another."

He took out a pair game cases and said "The game is called Alfheim Online, or ALO for short. I guessed you two would want to go investigate immediately so I bought two copies."

The cases had a forest background with a fairy with green wings facing a fairy with red wings.

"A game about fairies? Sounds quite childish." Kazuto said curiously.

Meanwhile we both picked up the cases, looked on the back and saw the words "RECTO Progress" there.

"I hear it is quite hardcore actually, and it is based off of your physical abilities, or what you subconsciously think are your physical abilities and there are no levels, each skill goes up as you use it like in SAO, but there is no level system." he said.

"It says it is for Amusphere, what is that?" Kazuto asked.

"It is the newest generation of VR Headsets, supposedly it is completely safe, but it should still run on your NerveGear if you still have it." he said.

"I can get that agent guy to give us yours, there is no way they would destroy something like that." Kazuto said.

"Okay." I said.

We took the cases and I said "Thank you, we'll go check it out." though we already knew that this was it, because of who the creator was.

Kazuto pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

He beckoned me over so I could hear what the other party says "Hello, who is this?" asked a voice that sounded like a man in his 20s or 30s.

"You know who it is, don't play dumb." Kazuto answered.

"Oh, you... what do you need?" he asked.

"I need one of the NerveGears, the one that belonged to Asada Shino, and by the way, we're doing your job for you, so you should probably just send it over. You already know my address." Kazuto said.

"Right, what do you mean 'doing your job for you'?" he asked.

"We have no proof of anything so we aren't going to give any specifics but we know who is responsible for the 300 people yet to wake up." Kazuto said.

"Okay, well you better be right." he answered.

* * *

 **The end! Now you have to wait for me to write the first chapter of the next story 'cause I'm cruel. Or lazy. Or both.**

 **Actually you only have to wait a bit because I am going to start writing the first chapter right now.**

 **The story is called ALO: The Rangers, I dropped the 'Black and Blue' part because it sounds SOOOO dumb, how did I even come up with that?**

 **Please leave a review and favorite, don't bother following this story at this point.**

 **Anyway, cya me oouuttiiyy!**


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